Connections
by I.W.P-chan
Summary: The Phantom Thieves need a way to proceed further into Madarame's Palace. Luckily for them, their leader knows someone who can help. Actual Phantom Thief!Akira AU.


Summary: The Phantom Thieves need a way to proceed further into Madarame's Palace. Luckily for them, their leader knows someone who can help. Actual Phantom Thief!Akira AU.

 _Note: Actual Phantom Thief!Akira AU it says, but it barely features any Actual Phantom Thief!Akira… *coughs*_

 **Warnings: Shameless Self-Indulgence, The Phantom Thief Community Chaoses Yaldabaoth Out Of Existence, The Fic Doesn't Cover As Much As You Think It Covers, Restricted POV, The Author's Love For Picking The Least Informed POV Strikes Again, ShuAke Establish Themselves By Themselves At Some Point Through The Fic, 30K+ Word Count Trash Fic (And Proud), Perfect Disguises (A La Magic Kaito/Detective Conan), Proceed At Your Own Risk, PT!Leader Akechi, Actual Detective Akechi, Phantom Thieves And Their Weird Attachments To Their Detectives And Taskforces, Don't Let Akechi's Apparent Softness Deceive You, Akechi's Excessive Blushing, Akira's 'Akechi-senpai' Game Is STRONG, Info Dumps (They Happened), How More Obvious Can I Get?, Akechi Being Constantly Teased And Called Out.**

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own P5.

.

Ann nervously fiddled with one of her pigtails as she slid into the booth next to Ryuji; in the other seat of the booth sat Goro while Morgana snuck between Ann and Ryuji.

She bit her lip and checked the time, noting that they still had few minutes before the meeting and the other person who was supposed to come didn't appear to have arrived yet.

"Are you really sure about this?" She asked, pointing her question to Goro, who looked at her with a soft, inquisitive look. "I know we're doing this because I'm not comfortable with modeling nude for Kitagawa-kun, but is it really a good idea to ask someone else to do it?"

"Yeah," Morgana said, giving Goro a piercing look, "We'd be involving someone we don't know anything about it in our job, for one thing, and for another, we'd be entrusting them with a very important task."

Goro smiled, "Oh, you don't need to worry about it. They're trustworthy and capable of keeping a secret."

"That sounds too good." Ryuji frowned.

Goro sighed lightly, "Ah, the mere knowledge that I'll owe them a favor or two for helping us out would be a good a guarantee for them to keep quiet. I also suspect that our target would interest them as well."

"They have a bone to pick with Madarame or something?" Ryuji wondered.

"Possibly."

The group, miraculously, quieted down at the sound of approaching footsteps and Ann looked up to see a girl about their age, with long curly brown hair and brown eyes, approach their booth. The girl slid into the seat next to Goro and draped herself over his arm.

" _Detective_." The girl sent a flirty smile Goro's way, "To what do I owe the pleasure of having you ask for my help?"

Goro's smile grew strained at the edges while the other three gaped.

"The hell?!"

"Quiet, Ryuji!"

"Oh, are they your friends, detective?" The girl sent them a smile, warm and welcoming, "I never thought my darling detective would get _friends_ one day."

"Oh?" Ann raised an eyebrow, the smile on her face stiff, "Why is that?"

The girl sent her a sly wink, "Tantei-san here is the type to get too attached to his work, the one you call 'married to his work'."

Ann felt her smile relax a little while Goro cleared his throat.

"As nice as 'roasting' me must be to you-" The girl smirked at Goro, "-we have business to attend to."

The playful expression slid off the girl's face to be replaced with a neutral, curious one, "Indeed. You can imagine my surprise when you contacted me. I can only imagine what type of _favors_ you would ask of _lil' ole me_." She grinned deviously, "Have I _corrupted_ you, Tantei-san?"

"Not really, no." Goro didn't seem fazed by the girl choosing to attach herself to his arm again, "But we digress."

The girl merely waved her hand in a 'go on' gesture and Goro complied, "I'd like to ask you to pose as Ann-" And here Goro gestured her way, turning the girl's attention back towards Ann momentarily, "-with the excuse to model nude for a painting for Kitagawa Yusuke as your in to Madarame's shack, with the objective of unlocking the only room in the house locked with a padlock. Of course, there are more details involved."

The girl stared blankly at Goro and Ann thought that that was it, the girl was going to slap Goro and storm off due to the absolutely ridiculous offer (God knew Ann would), but the girl surprised her by saying, "Why? Why such an intricate plan when you could easily ask me to sneak in and get to the locked room?"

"I'm afraid we need Madarame to be aware of the room being unlocked."

The girl raised an eyebrow, "If I didn't know you well enough to know that you definitely have a reason behind such a risky plan, I'd have thought you were planning to get me arrested."

Goro was silent in response.

The girl scrutinized Goro for a long time before she leaned back in her seat, "Alright, I'll do it."

"Y-you will?" Ann was shocked.

"Yes." The girl gave Ann a sly smile, "My name is Amamiya Ren, it's a pleasure to be working with you."

Goro sighed in relief.

"My, detective, were you worried I wouldn't agree?"

"Something like that."

"Why would I refuse when you're practically offering me _Madarame Ichiryusai_? You sure know how to give gifts." Amamiya fluttered her eye lashes at Goro, "Besides," She added, her voice dropping into a seductive purr as she raked her eyes up and down Goro's body, "How can I possibly refuse you? The mere idea of having you owe me a couple of favors tastes _so delicious_. I wonder how I'll have you repay them…" She trailed off and Goro's face glowed red.

Ann stared at the sight in fascination, and, from the slight chocking sounds that came from next to her, she knew she wasn't the only one shocked about the sudden turn of events.

Goro cleared his throat, cheeks still red, "About what I asked you to-"

Amamiya shushed him by placing a finger on his lips, "You don't worry your pretty head over it. I'll get to that room, and I'll get Madarame to know someone opened it." Amamiya let her finger trail down until she placed it under Goro's chin and lifted Goro's face as she smirked lightly, "You can trust me, _Tantei-san_."

Amamiya then turned her attention to Ann, Ryuji and Morgana while Goro kept staring dazedly ahead, line of sight still transfixed to the side of Amamiya's head.

"I'd like to share contact information with all of you to hash out details..." Amamiya trailed off, "Ah, where are my manners, I don't believe I got your names?"

"Takamaki Ann," Ann said before gesturing to her side, "Sakamoto Ryuji and the cat is Morgana."

"Amamiya Ren, you can call me Ren. Now, the contact information?"

Ann and Ryuji quickly exchanged numbers with Ren before she stood up and left with a salute and a kiss blown Goro's way, causing his cheeks to flare red again.

"Well," Ann said after Ren had left, "That was… something."

"You can say that again," Morgana said.

"Who was she?" Ryuji asked.

"Ah, well, Amamiya, they." Goro took a pause to clear his throat, "They're Amamiya Ren, I met them while working on a case and we have kept in contact since."

Ann noted the pronouns Goro used, "Oh, you have kept in contact with them? You looked like you'd drop them like a hot potato and run to the other side of the world at any moment."

Goro blinked at her, "While Amamiya can be very forward and flirty, they're someone I respect, and they have an impressive repertoire of skills. They're the perfect choice to take your place and get to the locked room, and then leave the place with no repercussions. They certainly know how to bend reality to their whims." Goro chuckled fondly and Ann gave him an amused smile.

"I see how it is." Ann's smile stretched into a smirk that was mimicked by both Morgana and Ryuji.

"Do you have a crush on Amamiya, _Leader_?" Ryuji snickered.

Goro's cheeks flared red again and he shook his head, "What? No! There's no way I'd have a crush on them!" He closed his eyes and stiffly stood up, "This meeting is over, I'll see you all later."

"Hey, wait! Goro! Come on! Don't be like that!"

.

A couple of days later found the Thieves along with their new accomplice pulling their plan to open the locked room in Madarame's house.

Ann leaned against a wall in an alleyway that was out of the way in the neighborhood Madarame lived in, a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. The bag was Ren's and, as far as Ann knew, it contained clothes for Ren to change into after they left Madarame's house.

All Ann had to do was wait for Ren to confirm how the plan went before leaving to regroup with the Thieves in Madarame's Palace.

Ann's phone pinged with a message from Ren.

 _[I'm going in]_

Ann gripped her phone tightly and didn't respond as she didn't want to distract Ren.

And so, Ann resigned herself to wait anxiously for Ren's next text.

.

After what felt like hours, but was actually barely half an hour, Ann's phone pinged with a second message from Ren.

 _[I'm heading to your location]_

A couple of minutes later, a figure arrived at the mouth of the alley Ann was waiting in and she had to suppress her shocked gasp at the sight of someone looking so similar to her it looked like she was staring in a mirror.

"Hey there!" And the sound was _exactly_ like hers too! "Thank you for your cooperation~" The figure hummed, this time in Ren's voice, as they reached for the duffle bag Ann had.

"Ren-chan!" Ann handed them the bag.

"The one and only." Ren accepted the bag and ducked behind a few boxes in the alley. Ann wondered if Ren arranged them to give themself an inconspicuous, makeshift changing room.

"How did things go?"

"Marvelously, if I do say so myself. Kitagawa-kun chased after me when I left the house and I led him in a bit of a chase around the neighborhood before I doubled back to regroup with you, I don't know if he's still looking for me in the direction I led him or if he went back." Ren emerged from behind the boxes, back in their curly hair and brown eyes and wearing different clothes. "I don't understand why you insisted to wait for me; Tantei-san seemed sure about not having to notify him of my progress."

"I couldn't just leave you do it all alone, no matter what Goro said about it." Ann frowned lightly, "You're helping us out, waiting for you to check up on you is the least I can do!"

Ren blinked at her, "Check up on me?" Ren cocked their head to the side, looking bemused before their expression softened, "And besides, Tantei-san already owes me a favor for this; you didn't have to do anything. And it's not your fault Kitagawa-kun asked you to model for him and that's your only in."

"Still!"

"Alright, alright." Ren huffed a laugh, "You're a nice girl and Tantei-san is definitely lucky to have you on his team, whatever type of team he'd recently formed. I'll see you later, as agreed?"

"Yes." Ann blushed lightly and returned the wave Ren threw her way as they left.

Ann waited for a few minutes to calm herself before she left as well and headed towards Madarame's house, phone out and ready to use to the Nav the moment she was in range of the house.

As she activated it, there was a shout of 'Takamaki-san!' and a hand touched her shoulder. She turned around as she slipped to the Metaverse and caught sight of Kitagawa.

Ah, hell.

.

Ann now perfectly understood how Ryuji and Goro must have felt when they accidentally pulled her in with them to the Metaverse.

She and Kitagawa had dropped inside the Palace, which meant Kitagawa was in danger until he left the Palace. Luckily, Crow, Skull and Mona weren't far off from her.

Crow didn't comment at Kitagawa's presence while Skull and Mona meanwhile almost exploded about it.

"Quiet," Crow called out, silencing his vocal teammates, "What's happened has happened and we can't change it. We're heading out to the entrance now to escort Kitagawa-kun outside, alright?"

The group chorused an agreement.

.

Things… did not go as planned. The Thieves were intercepted by Madarame before they could get Yusuke out; a confrontation which resulted in Yusuke awakening to his own Persona.

Luckily, they managed to leave the Palace without getting caught in another confrontation with Shadows.

"We'll be meeting with Ren-chan now, correct?" Ann asked and Goro nodded in response as he took his phone out to message Ren.

"Man, I'm hungry, let's go get something to eat."

"Besides, we need to talk with Yusuke," Morgana said, causing the Thieves to turn to look at Yusuke.

"That is true." Goro put his phone back in his pocket, "Ren is waiting for us in the diner we met in last time."

"Oh, so you're calling them Ren now?" Ryuji sent a shit-eating grin Goro's way.

Goro's cheeks colored lightly as he frowned, "They insisted! Even called in the favor for today to make me call them that!"

Ann hid a smile and looked at Yusuke who was staring curiously at them, "Come on, Yusuke. Let's go before they start bickering."

.

"Oh, there you are!" Ren waved at the Thieves once they entered and Ren caught a glimpse of them.

Yusuke blinked at Ren, "Ren-san?"

"Kitagawa-kun!" Ren beamed, "Come, sit! You too, Tantei-san!"

While Ren manhandled Yusuke and Goro to the same seat as them, Ann, Ryuji and Morgana slipped into the seat opposite them.

"You know Ren-chan, Yusuke?" Ann asked, leaning forward in curiosity.

"Ah," Yusuke started, seemingly not bothered with Ren sitting very close to him and sending cheeky smiles to Goro who sat on Yusuke's other side, "We met a year ago at one of sensei's exhibitions."

"Was that another reason why you accepted our request, Ren?" Goro cradled his chin on the palm of his hand.

"Ren…?" Ren narrowed their eyes at him, " _Ren?_ "

The Thieves blinked at Goro, wondering what they missed, and hadn't Goro said that Ren made him refer to them by their first name?

A blush crept up Goro's neck until he ground out, "Ren- _chan._ "

Ann covered her gaping mouth with a hand while Ryuji didn't bother muffling his snickers and Morgana grinned deviously, clearly enjoying Goro's predicament. Across the three, Ren seemed to share Morgana's sentiment, if the grin on their face was any indication. In between Ren and Goro sat Yusuke, unfazed by the byplay.

Goro cleared his throat, uselessly trying to force the blush away, "About today, how did things go?"

"Oh, things went smoothly, honey." Ren waved a hand, "Madarame didn't suspect a thing. Did it even do what you wanted it to do?"

Goro seemed to be ignoring the term of endearment Ren threw his way, "It did. Out of curiosity, what did you find in there?"

"The Sayuri," Yusuke murmured, attracting attention towards him, "He had the Sayuri hidden in there. The original one."

Ren lightly squeezed Yusuke's shoulder and continued when he seemed to be lost in thoughts, "The original Sayuri among multiple copies."

"Copies?" Goro's eyes narrowed thoughtfully before he turned to look at Ren, "You're not planning anything, are you?"

Ren blinked at him innocently, "Who? Me? Why would I be planning anything?"

Goro quirked an eyebrow and Ren chuckled lowly, "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." Ren shrugged and Goro sighed.

There was a lull in the conversation; Goro kept staring intensely at Ren who stared back with lips quirked in faint amusement.

The silence was broken by Ren who turned to the three sitting in front of them, "Well then, guess I'll be seeing you later in case Tantei-san decides he's in need of more of my services. Take care, Kitagawa-kun, hope to see you around. And Tantei-san." Ren leaned over Yusuke to whisper to Goro with a seductive purr, "Hope to see you on our next date."

With that said, Ren stood up and sauntered out of the diner.

Goro frowned as he stared after Ren, "'Next date'? It has been quite some time since the last one. I believe they'd think it's time to stir things up again." Goro hummed thoughtfully.

"Date?" Ann wondered out loud, propping her chin on both her hands.

Goro waved a dismissive hand, "Never you mind that."

Morgana frowned, "Never mind that? We can't do that, Goro, and you know it. You're involving Ren with what we do but they're still someone we barely know much about."

"It's for your own good, truly. You're better off not knowing. Plausible deniability." Goro leaned back in his chair, taking out his phone to check something on it.

"Plausible deniability?" Ryuji asked with a frown.

"What could Ren-chan be involved in to warrant wanting to keep us ignorant about as many details as possible?" Ann turned from Goro to Yusuke when the former refused to answer her, "Yusuke, do you know?"

"Hm." Yusuke cocked his head to the side, "I am uncertain of what Goro may be referring to, but could it be about Ren-san's family?"

"How so?"

"In the art world, it's a badly-kept secret that the Amamiya family has amassed a collection of stolen artifacts, jewelry, paintings and other items, and Ren-san is the heir to the family. When Ren-san's grandfather took over the family, he didn't keep up the 'family trade' and neither did any of his children."

"So Goro suspects Ren-chan is a thief?" Goro seemed amused by her musings, if the faint smile on his face was any indication, and Ann didn't know whether it confirmed what she just said or whether it was so outrageous that Goro couldn't help but smile.

"You said it's a badly-kept secret," Ryuji said, "Couldn't the police get them then if people knew?"

"Lack of evidence," Goro said, "While 'everyone in the art world knew', there was no evidence. Besides, it's not like it's actually common knowledge."

"And then what?" Morgana prodded, "What brings Ren to all of this?"

"A couple of years ago," Yusuke continued, "Certain paintings and artifacts that were previously in the Amamiya's possession started finding their way back to their rightful owners."

"Isn't that a good thing then?" Ann wondered.

"If that was simply it," Goro said, "But it's not. While there were objects returned, they weren't returned with the knowledge of the receiver, and there were objects stolen as well."

"So, whoever was returning them was breaking in to do so, and stealing things while they were at it?" Morgana was confused, "Why?"

Yusuke shook his head, "I do not know much about this topic, I'm afraid."

Goro smiled lightly at them all, "Maybe you should do some research about the Phantom Thief Joker? Have at least some basic understanding of your fellows in the phantom thievery industry? At least _that_ wouldn't be very suspicious. You could pass it off as curiosity about phantom thieves in general after what happened with Kamoshida, and all the information you'll be able to find can be explained as knowledge available to the public.

"Now, didn't you want to eat?"

.

Ann stretched her arms behind her back and turned in her seat to face her friend, Akira, "It's lunch break! How about we go have lunch on the roof?"

Akira looked at her, his bangs and glasses hiding his eyes like usual, and hummed inquisitively in response.

Ann waved a hand dismissively, "Don't worry, you won't be intruding at all! I'm sure it will be fine, we'll be dragging Ryuji with us, too." Not like Goro would mind Akira spending lunch with them; it wasn't like they could discuss Phantom Thief business out loud without Yusuke now. And maybe she could coax Goro into gaining another friend who had nothing to do with the Phantom Thieves! "Besides, you're my and Ryuji's friend, too!" She beamed.

Goro was already waiting for them when she arrived with Akira and Ryuji in tow; Morgana was lounging on one of the desks.

When Goro saw them, his eyes landed on Akira, most likely curious about him as he hadn't met him, what with his work as a detective and with the group's Phantom Thief activities; Goro's eyes roved over Akira before lingering on his legs for a moment, making Ann wonder if there was something specific that pulled his attention there, then Goro wrenched his eyes upward to stare at a point above Akira's shoulders, cheeks slightly pink.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Morgana sighed and draped himself down on the desk he was perched on, "I can't believe this."

Akira cocked his head to the side while Goro cleared his throat and strode forward, "Excuse my rudeness. I'm Akechi Goro, a third year student." He stretched his hand forward for a handshake and Ann's eyebrows climbed high on her forehead at that.

Ryuji leaned on her shoulder, watching the two, "Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"

Akira reached his hand out to shake Goro's, "Kurusu Akira. Second year." Akira's voice was soft but clear and the pink tinge to Goro's cheeks darkened.

A few moments passed before Akira turned his eyes down to their still joined hands, "Akechi-senpai?"

"Oh!" Goro seemed to shake himself out of his stupor and retracted his hand, "Apologies, Kurusu-kun. It appears that I zoned out a little bit there." Goro coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment.

Morgana sighed yet again.

The group settled down for lunch, with Ann and Ryuji making most of the chatter and conversation as Akira was naturally quiet, Morgana was content sending Disapproving Looks Goro's way and Goro was too busy trying to put himself back together to function.

Not that Ann found the situation unsalvageable; she knew a threat to tell Ren-chan about what transpired would be enough to kick Goro into high gear, because god knew Ren-chan would _never_ let Goro live it down.

(He might be their leader and senior, but he was also Ann's friend, and what good were friends if they didn't blackmail their friends back into functioning and to stop being a mess over a cute guy?)

.

The group gathered after school a couple of days later for the (hopefully) last leg in their infiltration of Madarame's Palace to secure the route to the Treasure.

"What are we waiting for?" Yusuke wondered, his phone out and ready to use the app.

"Items," Goro merely said.

"Items?" Ann looked at him in curiosity.

"Indeed. We've run out of lockpicks and are dangerously low on smokescreens." Goro frowned, "Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of time and materials on hand to make any, and so I asked the one person who could provide me with some."

Ann put her chin on her hand, "'The one person'? It's Ren-chan, isn't it?"

Goro sighed and nodded. He opened his mouth to speak again when his attention was pulled in a different direction, his cheeks going pink.

The reaction was _very_ familiar; Ann blinked as she and the rest of the Thieves looked in the same direction, their eyes landing on Akira.

Uh-oh. Ah, no. There was no way- he didn't overhear them, did he? Ann plastered a smile on her face, readying herself to distract Akira when he headed directly towards Goro, forcing him to back away until Akira had him pressed against the railing.

"Akechi-senpai," Akira murmured before leaning into Goro's space.

The blush on Goro's cheeks darkened considerably, "K- Kurusu-kun!"

Akira rummaged through his bag and pulled out a cloth bag, which he handed to Goro, "This is for you."

Goro gaped at the bag for a second and his blush intensified when Akira wound his arms around Goro's shoulders.

Ann was aware that she was gaping; Ryuji was as well, except his gaping involved a more amused air, and the stretch of his lips seemed headed into the direction of a wide grin. Morgana had flopped to the floor and was pressing his front paws to his face. Yusuke had pocketed his phone at some point and was busy staring at Akira and Goro through the frame he made with his fingers while humming thoughtfully.

Akira then grinned a devilish grin and Ann thought she could easily forgive Goro for swaying in place due to being the focus of such an expression.

"My, detective~" Akira purred, and it was Ren's voice coming out of his mouth, "You don't recognize me, honey?" Ren batted their eyelashes at Goro and leaned in even closer, almost pressing their face into Goro's neck.

Goro's brain appeared to have crashed as he was staring blankly ahead, face still glowing red (the steam rising from his head couldn't have possibly been good for his health).

"Ren-chan!" Ann smiled, pulling the majority of Ren's attention from Goro to let him recover somewhat (they were going to Madarame's Palace and they needed their leader to have his wits about him), "Why did you pick this appearance?"

Ren quirked their head to the side and smirked (and damn, they wore Akira's face so well, the out of character expressions looked completely natural), "A little birdie told me that if I wore this face for my next meet up, I'll receive satisfactory results. And I haven't been disappointed." Ren gestured to Goro who _finally_ managed to shake himself out of his stupor.

"Ren-chan," Goro started, trying to act like the past few minutes didn't happen, "I'm absolutely thankful for your aid, but I'm afraid we'll have to part ways as we have business to attend to."

"Aww, honey." Ren pouted, "Don't sound so excited to keep me around, I may get the wrong idea." Ren then grinned, "But oh well, go get your business done with. Anything that drives you to ask me for _lockpicks_ is definitely a worthwhile endeavor in my books."

Ren turned to the rest of the Thieves, "Take care of Tantei-san for me, will ya?"

The Thieves chorused an agreement while Goro shook his head, "Why are you all like this?"

Morgana shot towards Goro and twisted around his legs, "You know we love you, Goro," He said cheekily.

.

After Madarame's confession, the Thieves had to put any Metaverse related work on temporary hiatus due to their leader getting caught up in a case of his own and being unavailable for days on end.

Unfortunately for the rest of the Thieves, their hiatus was forcibly ended by Niijima Makoto making her way into their lives.

.

Ann did not like where things were going. At all.

She'd been asked by _the Student Council President herself_ to meet her at the Student Council's room and, given that Ann knew Niijima was investigating the Phantom Thieves and had been following both Ann and Ryuji around school with her face in an upside down comic, Ann knew that nothing good could come out of the sudden meeting.

And she was right.

Ann stared blankly at Niijima's phone as the damning recording of her and Ryuji's voice completely implicating the two of them as Phantom Thieves played.

Niijima stopped the recording and looked Ann straight in the eye, "What do you have to say about this, Takamaki-san?"

What should Ann do? She was all on her own, no Ryuji, no Goro, no Morgana, no Yusuke, and her response could very well make or break them.

Ann's mouth stretched into a smile so fake she felt it with all her being and almost cringed, but stopped before digging herself a deeper hole, "Ah!" Her voice was high and so, _so_ fake, she wasn't fooling Niijima but she had to try, "Wow! That sounded so much like me and Ryuji! Where did you hear it?" She punctuated her question with a fake laugh, "I certainly don't remember such a conversation!"

"Takamaki-san." Niijima's voice was serious, her face set into a determined frown, "I know Goro is working with you."

Oh no. Oh nononono _no_. Not Goro. If she and Ryuji were stupid enough to get caught then that was on them, their mistake. The rest of the team didn't have anything to do with it- it was not their fault; Morgana needed their help to look for clues about his past; Yusuke had his life upended very recently; Goro- Goro was a _detective_ working with the _police_ , he had a job, the consequences he'd suffer were _much_ graver than the ones the rest of the Thieves would face if the truth were to come out, _especially_ with the public's not-so-favorable opinion of the Phantom Thieves.

Ann looked Niijima dead in the eye and lied straight through her teeth, "Akechi-senpai has nothing to do with us. Please, Niijima-senpai, if you _are_ going to accuse someone, get your facts straight first. Akechi-senpai is a _detective_ , he has no reason whatsoever to be working with a group of _Thieves_."

Ann could not believe what she just said but she wasn't going to take it back. God help her and may Goro forgive her for this, but she was ready to admit that she was one of the Thieves and use the chance to lead Niijima away from the rest.

Niijima's frown smoothed out, and she folded her hands together in front of her on the table, "Takamaki-san, there is no need to lie to me about this."

Ann didn't respond.

"Takamaki-san, I am aware that my connection to Goro is a closely-guarded secret, and as much as I'd love to first ask Goro if he's willing to divulge it before I think of approaching you about it, it would simply tip him off that I am onto you and I don't want him to get involved in this. But, in truth, Goro is my brother."

Ann gaped.

"I am not lying, Takamaki-san, Goro and I grew up together and I like to think that I know him very well. Regardless, I knew for a while now that there was something weighing on his mind more than usual in these past few months."

Ann was silent as she attentively listened to Niijima speak.

"Particularly since he started investigating Kamoshida. A few weeks later the situation with the Phantom Thieves happened. He'd been working more than usual, considering that his main phantom thief target hadn't pulled a heist in months.

"Please, Takamaki-san, I ask you to introduce me to the rest of the Thieves without alerting Goro. There's a favor I have to ask of you, and in exchange for your help, I'll delete the recording."

Ann hesitated for a moment before speaking, "How sure are you that Goro won't know?"

Niijima tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, "The phantom thief I mentioned? He is the one Goro made his life goal to chase and capture in the act, and he pulled a heist sometime around Madarame's confession and Goro is busy handling the crime scene, so Goro will be busy for quite a while."

Ann bit her lip and thought for a moment.

What should she do now?

She reached for her phone and opened her chat logs, staring pensively at the various icons before a thought occurred to her.

Ren-chan would be a great help.

Ann sent them a text, asking for their help, and their response was almost instant, inquiring about what she needed from them and Ann asked them if it was okay to meet up today. When Ren replied with a 'yes', Ann sent messages to Ryuji and Yusuke telling them about the situation.

It took her a while to calm them down long enough to talk them into agreeing to meet; then she went and sent a text to Ren telling them where to meet up.

With some of her work finished, Ann looked at Niijima who was simply observing her without interrupting her at all.

"Guess you're in luck, follow me."

(As she exited the school building with Niijima, Morgana hurried from the side of the school gate where he'd been waiting to walk next to Ann, a worried and conflicted expression on his face- he clearly heard what transpired between her and Niijima.)

.

Ann took Niijima to the group's usual meeting place, Morgana perching on the railway and staring at Niijima with his tail flicking back and forth in agitation.

"Listen." Ann turned to face Niijima, "One of our friends who has _nothing_ to do with the Phantom Thieves has agreed to meet up with us here to act as a sounding board. They don't even _know_ that we're the Phantom Thieve, so I'd appreciate it if you don't let anything slip to them."

Niijima nodded her understanding, "Of course."

It didn't take long for Ryuji and Yusuke to arrive, and for another heated argument to ensue. Ann did her best to calm them all down- she certainly didn't need them to scream everything to all and sundry. Thankfully, she was saved by Ren's appearance, which completely shut her teammates up to avoid Ren overhearing details the Thieves didn't want them to hear.

"So, what's this about?" Ren sidled up to them, "Didn't think Tantei-san's group of friends would attempt handling an emergency without telling him about it." Ren turned their eyes towards Niijima and smiled in amusement, "Niijima Makoto? Oh, wow. How _are_ you all going to hide this from Tantei-san?"

Niijima smoothed her skirt before locking eyes with Ren, "He's quite busy and won't have time for this. May I ask who you are?"

Ren shrugged lazily, "Sure, I'm Amamiya Ren."

"Amamiya?" Niijima blinked.

"Yeah." Ren's amused smile stretched wider, "Is something the matter?"

Niijima shook her head, "No, nothing."

"Now, Niijima-senpai," Ann started, "What was the favor you wanted to ask of us?"

Niijima snuck a look at Ren before returning her gaze to Ann then the rest, "Some of our school's students have been talking about getting part time jobs. You've probably heard of that, haven't you?"

"Yeah, so?" Ryuji leaned back against the railing, attempting to look uninterested.

"Some of those students came forward to the Student Council about those 'part time jobs' and they told us that they're being blackmailed."

At this, Ryuji stood at attention, "They're being WHAT?"

Ann gaped while Yusuke's eyes widened, Morgana wound around Ann's legs attempting to comfort her. Ren's face held a neutral expression as they observed Niijima who wore a grim look on her face.

"I need your help to stop the person targeting the students," Niijima declared, "And once you do, I'll delete the recording I have."

.

After Niijima left, Ren sighed, "You sure got yourselves in a bind, hm?"

Ann stared at the ground with a downcast expression, "I know."

Ryuji kicked at the floor in agitation and Yusuke frowned.

Morgana hopped on the railing and observed the group carefully, "Well, what do you want to do now, Lady Ann?"

"Me?" Ann looked shocked.

"Indeed, Ann, you." Yusuke leaned against the railing, "Since you're the one who brought Niijima-san to us, taking the reins without Goro around to do so. What should we do next?"

"And what about our unanimous decision policy, huh?" Ryuji balled his hands to fists, "Our leader doesn't even know about this to say his piece."

"You know," Ren interrupted, snapping the Thieves' attention to them and reminding the group of their presence, "I believe Tantei-san would agree to go after Niijima-chan's target."

The Thieves stared at them for a moment.

"Ren's right." Morgana sighed, "Our leader is a detective, and he's definitely the type to go after someone who blackmails people. I think we should do this- for the sake of deleting the recording, as well."

Ann and Ryuji flinched slightly at the mention of the recording while Ren stared at the two in curiosity, as was their habit whenever Morgana talked in their presence in an attempt to at least keep up with the direction of the conversation.

Yusuke shook his head, "I believe I am in agreement with Morgana about this."

"Not like we have any other choice," Ryuji muttered darkly.

Ann nodded and took out her phone-

"We… we don't even have a name for our target this time." Ann bit her lip and a cloud of gloom descended upon the group.

"The name is vital for your work?" Ren twirled a strand of hair around one of their fingers as they stared at the ceiling pensively.

"Yes," Ann said and fiddled with her phone, "We need to look for it and then search for the-" Morgana yowled, interrupting her words and Ann backpedalled, "Yeah, we really need the name. Sorry, Morgana."

"Well then." Ren clapped their hands, "I'll help you out with that."

"Huh?" The group looked at her in confusion.

"I'll snoop around and get you the name." Ren winked, "I know someone who's in the perfect position for this. Give me a few days."

.

Even if Ren offered to help them look for the name, the Thieves weren't going to just sit and let their friend do all the work.

They had a deadline to meet and the more people who worked to gather information, the better.

Ann honestly wished they didn't have to keep it a secret from Goro. Goro was a detective and he had a higher chance of figuring out who their target was given his access to police records.

(An advantage they never had to use before- an advantage they never thought they'd resort to before.)

Niijima breathing down their necks made it only harder.

"Would you stop that!" Ann snapped, whirling around to face Niijima who blinked at her in shock, almost flinching back at the tone before schooling her expression.

Ann deflated at Niijima's reaction, "I apologize, that was uncalled for," Ann said, eyes downcast, "I am sorry, Niijima-senpai, but your hovering is only making things worse. Please, you have nothing to offer us, so could you at least give us a bit of space to work? It would be greatly appreciated." Ann turned round and walked away, leaving Niijima behind her without looking at her once.

Ann needed space to _think_ , with all the tension and the threat of their identities being exposed, she'd been very stressed. She wondered how Goro handled it all and her admiration for him grew.

Maybe she should treat him to some crepes after this mess was over and done with-

Her phone pinged with an incoming message.

It was from Ren and it was sent to the group chat Ann created to include only her, Ryuji, Yusuke and Ren to discuss matter pertaining to the hot mess they found themselves in.

 **Ren:** I got you a name.

 **Ren:** Kaneshiro Junya.

Ann's heartbeat sped up and her fingers trembled as she typed out a message.

 **Ryuji:** Awesome!

 **Ann:** Thanks, Ren-chan!

 **Yusuke:** We are in your debt, Ren-san.

 **Ren:** Aww, you sure know how to make me blush.

 **Ren:** Goro would be jealous ;3

 **Ren:** Anyway, don't you need to check the guy out?

 **Ann:** Yes!

 **Ann:** Ryuji, Yusuke, Morgana and I will go check him now!

 **Ann:** Come on guys!

 **Ryuji:** Alright, alright!

 **Yusuke:** We shall meet at our usual spot, then.

 **Yusuke:** And again, we are grateful for your assistance, Ren-san.

 **Ryuji:** What he said.

Ann closed the group chat and power-walked to the hideout.

.

The name checked out. Kaneshiro Junya did indeed have a Palace.

After brainstorming for his keywords, the Thieves sans Goro found themselves in Kaneshiro's Palace.

Or rather, close to Kaneshiro's Palace.

"It's floating," Panther said, defeated, "How are we going to get up there? It's not like Mona can turn into a plane… _Can_ you, Mona?" Panther turned to Mona who furiously shook his head.

"Oh, man!" Skull glowered, hands shoved into his pocket.

Fox cocked his head to the side, "I wonder if a change in cognition will help us?"

"So, what do you think we gotta do?" Mona blinked at him, "Go into his hideout?"

"That sounds crazy!" Panther stared incredulously at him.

"Yeah, Mona," Skull scowled, "How are we even supposed to find this scum's hideout when we couldn't even find out his _name_?"

Mona frowned, "Do you have a better idea?"

Skull was silent.

"Thought so."

Fox sighed, "It seems our trip was fruitless."

"Yeah…" Panther's shoulders slumped.

"Maybe we should tell Crow about this after all."

"I don't know, Fox, we promised not to tell."

"And how's that going to work out, huh? Crow is the one who does the strategizing instead of one of us for a _reason_ , you know."

"Never thought I'd ever say this, but I agree with Skull."

Panther propped a hand to her hips and exhaled, "Alright, fine. We're retreating for now, and afterwards we'll see what we should do next."

.

After two days of venturing into the Metaverse to just stare at Kaneshiro's floating Palace, coming up with the tentative idea that maybe, just maybe, if Kaneshiro considered them viable source for money they could get in, and uselessly attempting to find Kaneshiro's hideout, Niijima cornered them at their usual meeting spot with Ren trailing after her.

"Well? How are things going?" Niijima looked at each of the Thieves individually.

Ann sighed, "We got a name, Kaneshiro Junya, but we haven't made much progress yet." Try _zero_ progress, "Our only solution seems to be to find Kaneshiro and to somehow get him to believe that we'll be his 'customers', so that we'll be able to proceed with what we usually do."

Niijima looked pensive, as if thinking about the situation.

Ren gave the Thieves an unimpressed look, their brows furrowed and lips pinched, "Absolutely not! That's ridiculous! Do you even hear what you're saying? You _want_ to make yourselves blackmail victims of a _mafioso_?" Ren hissed, their eyes flashing dangerously, and it was such a different look from Ren's usual carefree, flirty attitude that it took the Thieves aback.

Ann was struck with the knowledge that they knew Ren for only a month and through Goro, a _detective_. Heck, Ann barely knew much about Ren.

The only thing that let her relax from her shock at the sudden change in attitude was that Yusuke didn't seem fazed by it.

"Ren-san, you do not have to worry yourself too much about it," Yusuke started and Ren sent him a Look, but Yusuke didn't budge, "You do not have to- what was the term? Ah, yes, 'mother hen' us."

Ren sighed, letting their tense aura drop, but the sharp look in their eyes did not fade.

"So you need to get into contact with Kaneshiro?" Niijima murmured with a thoughtful look on her face, "I see." She blinked at them with a faint smile, "Well, I guess it's my turn to help you out." She then turned around and left.

"What's she on about?" Ryuji squinted at Niijima's retreating back.

"Wish I knew," Morgana murmured.

Meanwhile, Ren was staring at the Thieves with a calculating look on their face with their phone in their hand. They tapped it a few times before they slipped it back into their pocket.

"I think you should tell Tantei-san about this," Ren said, completely serious.

"We… can't do that." Ann fidgeted in place.

"Actually, I need to rephrase that." Ren crossed their arms across their chest, "It's not 'I think you should', it's 'you must'."

Ryuji whipped his head around to stare at Ren, ready to rage seven ways into next Sunday and lay into Ren, but Ren raised a hand and interrupted him.

"Think about it; you're a team for a reason, aren't you? And Tantei-san is your leader for a reason too, isn't he? Why is he being kept in the dark about such an important development? And at the request of someone who is not a part of you? Granted, I should be the last person to lecture you on this- god knows this spiel of responsibility on my part is giving me hives already-" Ann chuckled weakly, "-but I mean it. You've grown on me, and you're also Tantei-san's friends too. I'll be damned if I let you screw yourselves over-" Ren's rant was cut off by the sound of Ann's phone ringing with an incoming call.

Ann blinked at the name on the screen, "Niijima-senpai…?" She murmured before she accepted the call, "Niijima-senpai, wha-?"

"There's no time for pleasantries, Takamaki-san," Niijima's voice was laced with a sharp edge that made Ann's body go cold, "You said you needed to get into contact with Kaneshiro, right? Don't end the call." There was a bit of shuffling around before Niijima's voice came back, loud as it called out to someone on her end, "Hey, you! You're one of Kaneshiro's men, aren't you? Take me to your boss."

Ann's hand trembled as she pulled the phone from her ear and turned to address the rest, "It's Niijima-senpai… She… She's talking to some of Kaneshiro's men… Convincing them to take her to where Kaneshiro is."

Ren cursed and turned sharply on their heel, taking their phone out again, "Ann, keep the call connected! All of you, follow me!" Ren barked out the orders with a tone that brooked no argument, not that the Thieves wanted to argue.

The four of them fell in-line with Ren as they followed them out of the station, the time the Thieves' spent in the Metaverse under Goro's command putting them into a familiar routine.

"We're going to get Niijima back."

.

"I'm sorry," Niijima whispered, voice trembling as she hunched in on herself in the backseat with Ann putting an arm around her shoulders, "I wanted to help, to be useful, but I ruined everything instead."

Ryuji was silent from Niijima's other side, while Morgana put a paw on Niijima's knee.

In the front, Yusuke stared ahead and Ren continued driving the car they used to drive everyone into where Niijima was being held.

Ann squeezed Niijima's shoulder lightly, "It's going to be alright. We're going to find a way out of this mess."

Niijima raised her head to stare at Ann with haunted eyes, "Why are you being so kind to me when all I did was make things worse for you? I never even helped you out, not with Kaneshiro, not with the rumors, and most definitely not with Kamoshida. I-" Niijima's died in her throat as she stared at the window next to Ann. It was then that Ann realized the car had stopped.

There was a knock on the same window Niijima had been staring at with dread and a pleasant voice reached Ann's ears, "My, what a surprise to find you all here."

Ann turned around slowly and came face to face with Goro waiting for them outside the car with a smile on his face.

Ann was not comforted by that smile. At all.

"Ah, shit." Ann heard Ryuji whisper and honestly wished to repeat the sentiment.

Judging by the way Goro's smile widened, he definitely heard Ryuji as well.

Ann knew that smile. Knew it all too well. For all that it was the smile Goro wore while talking to and charming adoring fans, he also wore it right before he summoned Loki and unleashed hell on some poor, unsuspecting Shadow.

They were fucked. And not even Kaneshiro's threats of blackmail could top what Goro was about to dish out.

(Ann could have sworn she heard Niijima mutter under her breath 'Ah, shit, indeed'.)

.

While the group piled out of the car, Goro waited for them with the same pleasant smile, radiating presence, and soft edges.

Ann was not deceived by Goro's appearance in the least.

Goro gestured to them to follow him to a somewhat discrete corner to talk freely and they trudged after him with Ren bringing up the rear.

After they were securely away from any prying eyes or eavesdropping ears, Goro crossed his arms across his chest and gave them a Look, "Now, would someone explain to me why you have all been operating behind my back with the insistence to not tell me anything?"

Niijima sighed and stepped forward, "I'm sorry, brother, I did not want to be a bother to you." Niijima bit her lips while Morgana and Ryuji exclaimed quietly at ' _brother_ ', and Yusuke quirked his head to the side in curiosity, "But it seems that I became a burden to you anyway. I'm sorry."

Goro's eyes softened and he stepped forward to engulf Niijima in a hug, "Oh, Mako… You're never a burden, have never been a burden. We're family aren't we?"

"Yes, but-" Niijima sounded like she was choking back a sob, "Sis said-"

"Ignore what Sae said," Goro murmured softly, his hand gently smoothing Niijima's hair.

Goro tightened the hug for a moment, "Let's continue this later somewhere more private, okay?"

Niijima nodded and pulled back from the hug to stand next to Goro, wiping her face from the few tears that escaped her, smoothing her hair and pulling herself back together in front of their eyes to stand tall and proud next to her brother, with only the slight red rimming her eyes and coloring her cheeks the only indication that something had happened.

"Now, would you explain to me _why_ didn't _you_ tell me about what you were doing?" This time, Goro pointed his question to the Thieves.

Ann shuffled in place alongside Ryuji and Morgana but didn't say a thing, all while wishing they had Yusuke's apparent immunity to Goro's scolding tone and stare.

Goro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I guess it can't be helped. I'm simply glad at least _someone_ told me."

The Thieves plus Niijima stared at him in confusion.

Ren gasped dramatically, " _Someone_? That's all I rate to you?"

Everyone sans Goro turned to look at them in astonishment and Ren smirked, "I told you all I knew someone in the perfect position to know the name of your target, right?"

"Wait- you mean Goro?" Ryuji shouted and Ann elbowed him in the side.

"Yes." Ren smirked, "It took me a few days, coffee, pancakes and arranged dates with his crush-"

" _I don't have a crush on Kurusu-kun!_ " Goro hissed, cheeks flaring red, but Ren ignored him and continued as if he hadn't interrupted in the first place.

"-but I managed to get to him to spill in the end."

Goro exhaled, " _Anyway_. That is not the main point of our discussion here. What we're here to discuss is _why_ you found it important to put yourselves in Kaneshiro's clutches."

"Um," Ann started, fiddling with one of her pigtails, "We needed an in to… his _place_ because we couldn't get in by ourselves. So…"

Goro narrowed his eyes at her as he seemed to be digesting the information Ann just relayed to him.

"And… uh… We kinda… need Niijima-senpai to help us out?" Ann bit her lips as Goro's eyes darkened at the implication, "We'll need to take her with us…"

"Take me with you? Where? Is it where you need to go to make Kaneshiro stop?" Niijima stepped forward to look everyone around her in the eye. Ren, who _wasn't_ in the know merely shrugged at her.

"If so, then yes, take me with you." Niijima turned determined eyes to Goro, who lasted for full five seconds before he caved in, "Alright." He sighed, "We'll be taking you with us."

"Oh?" Ren perked up, "Since we're on the topic of taking people with you, I'll be coming with you as well."

"No." Goro's reply was blunt and instantaneous.

"No?" Ren raised an eyebrow, their voice carefully neutral. They then stepped- or rather, _stalked_ forward towards Goro, because there was no other way to describe their gait as they backed Goro to one of the walls and leaned into his space, "My, my, _Tantei-san_. How bold of you, to think you'd believe you have the authority to tell me where and where not to go." Their voice was deep as they spoke, a purr with a dangerous edge.

(And not for the first time, Ann wondered again about who Amamiya Ren was.)

Goro's eyes were alert, his entire focus set on Ren, and his lips tilted into an amused smile, with something akin to fascination in his expression.

A beat.

Goro carefully smoothed his expression into a neutral façade and spoke with a level tone, "It's less a desire to control you and more a need for a distance between our works, you understand?"

Ren hummed and turned their attention the rest of the Thieves, eyes studying each and every one of the team before they scoffed, "Why, detective, I did not expect you to be so soft. I'm charmed, honey." Ren pulled back and stepped away, turned in the direction to go back to the car, "I guess that means I'll be leaving you to your work, hm? Take care of them, darling, they're precious cinnamon rolls and I'd hate it if anything happened to them."

Ren looked pensively back at Goro, "You know what? Just because I can't join you, doesn't mean I can't help you. I've been keeping an eye on you for a time now, as you well know, and I have gathered some information. If you ever need supplies, you have my number."

Ren then walked away, leaving them all to continue their plotting with a thrown wave above their shoulder, a gesture that was returned by Goro who had an amused and, dare Ann say it, _fond_ smile on his face.

When Ren was no longer in sight, Goro turned back to face him, "Now, about Kaneshiro's Palace…"

.

The Thieves observed Kaneshiro's floating Palace as Crow gave Niijima a crash course about the Metaverse.

"So, that means with what happened with Kaneshiro, I'd be considered a customer and thus I'll be allowed in." Niijima hummed thoughtfully and turned towards the Palace. As she walked towards it, the Palace floated down and opened its gate.

"So it worked," Panther muttered under her breath.

"Don't think that I'm happy about this, Panther," Crow whispered to her and Panther awkwardly turned her face away from him.

Skull patted her on the back, "It was nice knowing you." He snickered.

"Oh, Skull." She beamed at him, "Don't worry. If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me."

"Ugh…" Skull's shoulders slumped.

"Don't dawdle," Crow called out to them, "We're going in."

"Alright!" Both Panther and Skull saluted Crow in unison, Fox and Mona doing the same a mere moment later.

Crow sighed while Niijima smiled at their antics.

.

"That," Ann started, "Was awesome."

"Yeah, dude! You got an awesome motorcycle!"

Makoto blushed before she shook her head and looked at Goro, "Does that mean I'll be joining you from now on?"

Goro sighed, "Indeed. But for now, you must be tired. We should go back home to let you rest; awakening your Persona is exhausting."

"Alright." Makoto nodded, "We'll be going to the Palace again tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Makoto straightened her shoulders and looked at Goro with a determined spark in her eyes and Goro smiled faintly.

Ryuji frowned, "Does anyone other than me get this feeling that with both Makoto and Goro on the team, there are more 'JUSTICE' vibes?"

.

The next day, Makoto called Ann to the Student Council room once more (except this time, Ann was considerably less anxious that the first time- Makoto was part of the team now).

"Ah, Ann." Makoto gestured to the seat opposite her, "I'm glad you came."

Ann settled down in the chair and smiled at Makoto, "So, what's this about?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something I mentioned yesterday in the car."

Ann cocked her head to the side inquisitively.

"It's about Kamoshida. I wanted to apologize to you for failing you."

"Failing me…?"

"Yes. I am the Student Council President and it's supposed to be my duty to take care of and protect the students, but I allowed the principal to order me around and let my duty fall to the wayside. I promise you that it won't happen again, that I will be doing my duty to the utmost of my capabilities." Makoto's eyes never wavered from hers and Ann felt her throat constrict.

"Oh." Ann let her head drop for a moment to gather her thoughts before she raised it again, wearing a small but genuine smile on her face, "Thank you, Makoto. Hearing you say that alone is enough to comfort me. It makes me happy. Again- thank you, Makoto."

Makoto's cheeks colored red as she looked at Ann with shocked, wide eyes, and Ann was struck with the shared resemblance between Makoto and Goro.

With a small laugh, Ann decided to tell her just that, "You know, you just reminded me a lot of Goro. It's no wonder that you two are siblings."

Makoto's shocked look disappeared, replaced by a soft smile. Ann wanted to coo.

"That reminds me, why do you have a different surname from Goro's?"

Makoto looked conflicted and Ann hurried to add, "You don't have to tell me if it's a sensitive topic!"

"Ah, no." Makoto shook her head, "It's simply that I grew used to keeping it a secret. Goro told me that he didn't mind telling you all about this. Goro is my adopted brother. Akechi is his late mother's surname and he chose to keep it."

Ann noted that Makoto didn't mention Goro's father but didn't bring it up.

There was a knock on the door, pulling Makoto's and Ann's attention towards it, "Come in!" Makoto called out.

The door to the room opened and Akira stepped in, bag slung over his shoulder.

"Akira?" Ann asked, questioning what he was doing in the room with a tilt of her head, especially since she thought Akira had already left school for the day.

"Kurusu-kun." Makoto narrowed her eyes at Akira, staring him down with a calculative and assessing look, fully appearing the part of the sister still not approving of her brother's apparent crush.

Akira cocked his hip to the side and propped a hand on it while the other reached for his glasses to remove them and bringing them close to his mouth, letting one of the tips rest on his lower lip, and then he stared at them from under his lashes.

Ann was confused; Akira didn't usually act like this.

Unless…

"Ren-chan?"

'Akira' smirked, "And we have a winner!" Yes, definitely Ren, "Came by to check on you, sweethearts."

Makoto did a double take, clearly shocked at the contrast of hearing Ren's voice come from 'Akira's' mouth.

Ann sighed and smiled slightly, "Came by to check on us or came by to thoroughly fluster Goro?"

Ren blinked innocently at them and returned the glasses back on their face before putting a finger to their lips, "Can't I do both?"

Ann shook her head as Ren relaxed their posture to one that perfectly mimicked Akira's and walked to sit next to Makoto who appeared to have recovered from her earlier shock and turned to scrutinize Ren.

"You look exactly like Kurusu-kun," She murmured and Ren didn't say anything in response, merely slouching slightly over the table and resting their head on their hand the same way Akira always did while in class.

The door opened again, this time it was Goro who walked in.

"Ah, you two are he-" Goro cut himself off as his eyes landed on Ren, "Kurusu-kun! What a coincidence! I didn't expect to find you here!" Goro combed his hand through his hair, cheeks gaining a pink tinge.

Ren turned to look at Goro without breaking character and nodded, "Akechi-senpai," They said curtly in Akira's deep voice, the angle of their face causing the light to reflect off the glasses and hide their eyes.

They then tilted their head to let their currently dark eyes show, eyes locked intensely with Goro's.

The staring continued for a whole minute before Goro reached behind him and opened the door again, leaving with his cheeks red and his voice breathy, "I apologize for the interruption. Don't mind me."

Ann waited a few minutes after Goro left before allowing herself to giggle. Makoto turned to stare at Ren in amazement and fascination.

"How did you do that?"

Ren gave a roguish grin, "Practice," they purred.

Ann's laughter grew breathy and Makoto's cheeks reddened.

Damn Ren's wicked skills in utilizing Akira's physical appearance, they could probably murder someone with it and seduce their way out of the murder charge.

"Thank you, ladies." Ren stood up, "Now that I've had my fun, it's onto business." They tapped their bag, "I've brought supplies to Tantei-san, and now I'm off to deliver." They saluted and left the room.

.

The Thieves didn't get to rest after stealing Kaneshiro's Treasure as exams started soon after.

Luckily for them, the fireworks festival happened after the exams and so they would be able to take the opportunity to relax.

Ann met up with Goro and Makoto first.

"Makoto, Goro, hey!"

"Hey, Ann." Makoto smiled at her, "I see you're wearing your yukata. You look amazing."

Ann beamed, "Thank you! You too, Makoto! Come on, let's go meet the rest! I heard Akira won't be wearing his glasses today." Ann's wide smile turned to a smirk as Goro almost tripped over his own two feet.

"But that's not a good thing, is it? Unless he doesn't need them for such an outing?"

Ann shook her head, "Akira's glasses aren't prescription. I think he wears them because of, you know…" Ann trailed off and Makoto nodded solemnly in understanding while Goro looked at them curiously.

Right. Ann kept forgetting that Goro did not know about Akira's record, despite it being leaked to the whole school, due to being too busy with Kamoshida when the news spread. Goro barely kept up with the happenings of his school because of his work on a _good_ day.

"Anyway," Ann said, recollecting her cheer, "As I was saying, Akira with no glasses! Doesn't that sound wonderful, Goro? You get to be faced with Akira's gorgeous eyes head on without his glasses doing their usual light-reflecting being in the way."

A blush crept up Goro's necks, "I thought you were gay, Ann."

"I'm gay, not blind. Speaking of gay…" Ann waved, "Hey guys!"

There was Akira along with Yusuke, Ryuji and Morgana. Yusuke was wearing a yukata too, Ann was glad to note, and Akira wasn't wearing glasses. Ann snuck a look at Goro who was, indeed, taking advantage of the absence of glasses to stare at Akira's eyes. Akira's lips quirked in a small smile he sent Goro's way and Goro stiffened in place.

(He was so unresponsive Makoto had to drag him with them when they went to watch the fireworks.)

.

It _rained_.

Ann sighed dejectedly as she wrung the water out of her yuakata. It seemed the day was not her day at all.

"Hey, Ann," Makoto whispered as she nudged her and Ann straightened to see what Makoto wanted. Makoto tilted her head to gesture to Ann to look to her other side and Ann turned to be met with the most amusing sight of the day- Ryuji was staring incredulously at Goro, who was staring at Akira's wet shirt with single-minded focus. Akira seemed oblivious to it all as he was busy ruffling his wet hair to get rid of the excess water clinging to it. On Akira's other side was Yusuke, observing the three and seemingly sharing Ann's sentiment.

Oh god, if only Ren was here.

Ann was almost bursting at the seams to tease Goro, but she wasn't about to do it with Akira around.

As luck would have it, Akira's phone chose that moment to ring with an incoming call. Akira excused himself and left to respond, leaving the Thieves to hone in on their leader like sharks to the scent of blood.

"Well then," Ann drawled, "You certainly don't have a thing for Akira, huh, _leader_?"

"I do not know what you're talking about," Goro answered stiffly.

"Yeah?" Ryuji scoffed, "It wasn't like you were mentally undressing him or anything."

"I was doing nothing of the sort," Goro denied.

Yusuke cocked his head to the side, "Why not? Akira would make for an exquisite model."

"Yusuke," Ann chided, "This is not the time for that."

"It isn't?" Yusuke blinked.

"Yes, it isn't. Unless you were interested in Akira as more than a model, then do tell."

Yusuke looked confused, "Interested in him as more than a model?"

"Alright! Fine!" Goro interrupted before he sighed in defeat, "You win this round. I have eyes and Akira is-" He was interrupted by the sound of his phone pinging with an incoming message.

Makoto narrowed her eyes at him, "That better not be work."

Goro checked his phone and narrowed his eyes as he read the contents of his message, "In a way. It's Ren. Something happened." Goro exhaled through his nose, "We need to move somewhere more private to discuss this and-" He was interrupted by Akira's return and the conversation had to be delayed until later.

After they left, Goro sent them Ren's message to their Phantom Thieves group chat.

[ _Did you hear? It seems that the hacktivist group Medjed just issued a challenge to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts._ ]

Ann's hands trembled.

.

With the news about Medjed, being directly contacted by an anonymous person who knew about them being the Phantom Thieves and was asking them to change someone's heart wasn't welcome in the least.

The Thieves gathered at their usual spot as they contemplated the latest development.

"This… is not good." Makoto pressed her lips into a thin line, "How did this Alibaba person know about _you_? Or knew to at least contact _you_?" Makoto pointed her question to Goro, who was the one to receive the texts from the mysterious Alibaba.

Goro shook his head, "I have a few theories, but with no evidence, I can't be sure."

"You have theories?" Yusuke asked, "That means you have someone in mind."

"Indeed." Goro hummed, "But if it's the person I have in mind, then we won't have a reason to fear of our identities being exposed. But since I can't be sure if it's the same person, we can't relax just yet."

Ann fiddled with her hair, "Oh god, this is horrible. What should we do? Between Medjed and Alibaba, we're done for."

"I guess we don't have any other option but to wait for Alibaba's next message." Morgana paced back and forth between their legs, "And then we can see what to do next. They're hackers, right? They may be able to help out with Medjed's situation if we help them out?"

"That sounds like somewhere to start."

"True." Goro nodded, "Meanwhile, I need to contact Ren."

.

Whatever it was that Ren said to Goro when he contacted them, Goro refused to say, but it was obvious that it bothered him a great deal.

Thankfully, Goro was at least willing to explain what happened, "Look, you are aware that I don't want you to get involved with certain aspects of Ren's life, for your own sake, and what they said to me delves into that. All I can say about the situation is that Alibaba is in need of help to change the heart of a specific person."

"So, Ren-chan thinks that Alibaba's request is worth looking into?" Ann asked, "And so do you, which makes me believe that we really should look into it, right?"

"Yes." Makoto nodded, "I haven't known Ren-san for long but I'm inclined to go with your judgment on this."

"Yeah, same." Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck, "Ren helped us out a couple of times already. Guess it's a good time to at least repay some of that back."

"I agree with Ryuji."

"Yeah, me too."

"I'll see if Ren can get Alibaba to tell us more details about this person they want to have their heart changed."

.

Ren delivered and Alibaba contacted them again with a name: Sakura Futaba.

"Sakura?" Ann frowned, "That surname sounds familiar."

"I agree with you." Goro cradled his chin with his thumb and index finger, "Where have I-" Goro cut himself off as his eyes widened, "Ah. Right. Sakura-san."

Ryuji grinned widely, "That's right! It's Boss! I'm gonna call Akira!" Ryuji stepped away from them, taking his phone out to make the call.

Makoto blinked, "Did I miss something?"

Yusuke's eyes widened, "Ah, yes, you haven't been to Leblanc before."

"I haven't _been_ to it, but-" Makoto sent a look towards Goro who refused to look back at her, "-I've certainly _heard_ about it."

"Boss, the owner of café Leblanc where Akira lives, his surname is Sakura! You think this Futaba is related to him?"

Ryuji returned then while shoving his phone back in his pocket, "Sakura Sojiro. Akira said he doesn't know anything about a Sakura Futaba though but then again he'd never been inside Boss' house before and didn't know anything about his family, so." Ryuji shrugged.

"Maybe we should go investigate?" Makoto stared off into the distance, mind racing for ideas, "Ren-san is perfectly capable of disguising themself as Kurusu-kun maybe they could help us gather information?"

"Actually," Goro started, "They may help us get more than just information." Goro took his phone out and started to type out a message.

Minutes later, Goro pocketed his phone, "They'll meet us in Yongen-Jaya. Let's go."

.

Ren met them disguised as Akira in front of the movie theater and led them a bit farther down the road before turning into a side road, "I'm glad you didn't pass in front of Leblanc on your way here." Ren gestured to the house on the side road they turned into, "This is Boss' house, and where you'll find Sakura Futaba. Boss won't be returning for some time now and Kurusu-kun already left for his part time jobs and won't be back to Leblanc until the evening, so if you need me around disguised like this for some more time, I can afford to remain."

"Thank you, Ren-chan." Ann smiled, "You're a great help and I don't think we can ever repay you for all of it."

"Oh, Ann, friends help each other, don't they? You don't need to repay me."

Goro sighed in mock-hurt, "Guess that means I'm the only one stuck with owing Ren-chan favors."

Ren winked at him and he almost choked on air, "That means you're my favorite detective, Tantei-san," Ren purred in Akira's voice.

Goro stared at them, stunned. Ann wasn't sure whether it was because of Ren's usual antics or because of Akira's face and voice (though a combination of both seemed like a good cause- god knew Goro would succumb to either of them _separately_ ).

"Please," Makoto interrupted, "Can we get back on track?"

"Of course, Niijima-chan," Ren said, still using Akira's voice, which made sense- they didn't want anyone to overhear them speaking in a different voice while wearing Akira's face, "Sakura Futaba is Sakura Sojiro's adopted daughter. I did some digging around, and apparently she's a shut-in who closed herself off from the outside world after her mother's death two years ago. Let's go inside." Ren opened the gate and walked to the front door.

"Hey!" Ann hissed, "You can't just go in like that!"

"Oh, I can." Ren opened the door and stepped through, "You need to go talk with Sakura-chan, don't you?"

Goro sighed and followed them, "We don't really have another choice, do we?"

The Thieves entered the house, following after Goro who led them to Ren. Ren was standing in front of a door with warning signs and tape plastered over it.

Ren knocked, "Sakura-chan! It's me! The one you contacted! I brought the people you asked about!" Ren then reached into their pocket and took out a black card before kneeling down and slipping it under the door.

Ren straightened and looked at the Thieves, "My work here is done, but just in case, I'll stay in the house. Ring me if you need anything."

With that, Ren left them to their talk with Sakura Futaba.

.

"I," Crow started as the Thieves stumbled into a safe room in Futaba's Palace, "Am glad Ren brought me a batch of supplies after we finished Kaneshiro's Palace. I'd hate to enter the Palace and then leave it again to go on a supply run."

"How much are they going to last us?" Queen asked.

"We could probably clear another gate before we call it a day," Crow said, "And we're going to have to ask Ren for more supplies."

"We're not asking for a lot of things from them, are we?" Mona asked, brows furrowed.

"Not really, no." Crow shook his head, "It's not like they're paying for it out of their own pocket, if that's what worries you. I give them a good portion of the money we gather in the Metaverse to secure us supplies. They get the items we find, but don't have a need for, as payment for their effort. They certainly have access to better equipment." Crow shrugged, "And they offered in the first place, so I consider it a win-win."

"Well, given that the alternative was dragging Ren-san with us into the Metaverse…" Fox trailed off.

"There is that, too."

"Sheesh." Skull rolled his shoulders, "Gotta remember to thank them then, this shotgun rocks."

.

While Crow said that they would be clearing another gate before leaving to come back another day, he didn't stop there. Panther knew that something about Futaba's situation struck a chord within him and made him push past his limits, and drag the rest of the Thieves with him while he was at it. Queen seemed to be aware, and perfectly understanding, of what pushed Crow to continue.

Not that the rest of the Thieves were inclined to ask Crow to stop or to complain to Queen about needing to stop for the day.

Unlike previous Palaces where their deadline was defined by the threats _they_ were under (expulsion and blackmail), Futaba's didn't have a deadline- at least not one of a similar nature.

Futaba wanted to die, believed she deserved to die, believed that she was the reason her mother died.

And the Thieves couldn't let something like being tired stop them from continuing until they secured the route to Futaba's Treasure- not when it could mean the difference between life and death.

(For all that the Palace was complicated, they didn't face any obstacle that required a change in cognition until they hit the door leading to the Treasure, and for that, they were thankful.)

.

Futaba's Palace seemed to be finished in what felt like record time, but it barely registered for them as they had to anxiously wait for Futaba to wake up from the sleep she dropped into in her fatigue while feeling Medjed's threat to destroy Japan's economy on the 21st like a noose around their necks.

It didn't help that Goro disappeared for days, citing work; apparently, the phantom thief he'd been chasing decided to pull yet another heist.

Even Ren wasn't around.

Makoto patted Ann on the back, "You get used to it. Goro had been chasing after Joker for a couple of years now. That reminds me, you know, while a lot of people who hear that Goro is a detective assume that he works homicide, it's actually incorrect as Goro works theft instead."

"Huh." Ann took a sip from her coffee, "That… sounds ironic."

Makoto smiled a secretive smile, "It does, doesn't it? I'm actually surprised he wasn't called on to investigate the Phantom Thieves of Hearts."

Ann pressed her lips into a thin line as she contemplated what Makoto just said, "You know, I'm glad he wasn't."

"Hm?" Makoto cocked her head to the side with an inquisitive look in her eyes.

"Goro is a detective, isn't he?" Ann bit her lip, "It's difficult to try to guess what he thinks about being the _leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts_. Our group sounds like one he'd publically denounce, and our methods are far from unquestionable. It makes me wonder why he's still working with us."

Makoto reached towards Ann to wrap an arm around her shoulders, "You don't have to worry about Goro. Even for those points. He's the type of person to follow with his convictions and plans to the very end. And since he's our leader, and is actually working with us seriously, he's already decided he's going to be with us for the long haul." Makoto gave a small smile, "Come hell or high water, we're all a team."

Ann smiled gratefully at Makoto and leaned into her embrace.

.

The Thieves didn't hear a thing from Futaba until the deadline date for Medjed's threat, and even then it was less of a 'heard' and more of a 'came to a conclusion'. With Medjed not acting out on their threat, it was safe to assume that they'd been handled. A text from Goro confirmed it.

And so the event marked the joining of another member to the team, which brought on the plans to help Futaba handle being around people and leaving the house. On the first day, Ann knew Yusuke, Makoto, Morgana and Ren went to spend time with Futaba in her room.

On the next day, Futaba was going to spend time with Ann, Ryuji and Akira in Akira's room.

Ann and Ryuji made a detour to get snacks to find a flustered Goro staring through a shelf of marshmallow packets like he wasn't seeing it with shopping basket half-full with snack packs hanging from his arm.

"Goro!" Ann called out to him, snapping him from his thoughts. Goro blinked and looked in their direction as he tried to force down his blush.

"Ah, Ann, Ryuji, what are you two doing here? Aren't you supposed to be heading over to Leblanc?"

"Yeah, we just thought we'd swing by and get some snacks first," Ryuji said as he grabbed a few packets off the shelf and dropped them into his shopping basket, "What about you? What are _you_ doing here? I thought you were busy with detective work?"

"I _was_." Goro cleared his throat as the blush he'd somehow fought down rose back up again, "Except the phantom thief I'm chasing is quite tricky. He's the reason I'm here now."

Ann stared at him, looked around them at the very common and ordinary store and then gave a pointed look at the basket hanging off Goro's arm.

"Oh?" Even Ryuji was side-eyeing Goro, "And I suppose this thief hid clues about their heist target in a convenience store?"

Goro exhaled through his nose, "No. He didn't. The investigation is over and done with. But that doesn't stop Joker from doing his regular shenanigans. You can say I've been kidnapped from the precinct and dropped here with orders to get some snacks and go spend time with friends." Goro looked blankly at the floor and added, "He said, and I quote, _'working so much can't be good for your health, detective. You need to spend more time with others your age. Friendship is good for the soul'_." Goro curled his hand into a fist as his expression shifted from blankness into seething fury, " _That asshole is the main cause behind the great majority of my work. What I wouldn't give to have him bound, gagged and utterly defeated at my feet and by my hands…_ "

"Hey, man, you're okay there?" Ryuji looked reluctant to approach Goro in his sudden bout of anger, and Ann perfectly understood him.

Goro switched from his dark countenance to a bright smile, "Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?"

Ann chuckled nervously, "How about we finish here and go to Leblanc?"

"Sounds like a _marvelous_ idea, Ann!" Goro's smile, if possible, grew even _brighter_. Ann and Ryuji spent long enough in Goro's presence to _see_ the murderous aura engulfing him.

The two certainly hoped Akira's presence would help to at least lessen from it.

.

Ann knew she could count on Akira's presence to work wonders on Goro's temper.

When the three reached the attic, Goro had led with a sickeningly cheerful greeting, and Akira had met him with a soft 'Akechi-senpai', a small, relieved smile, and an 'I'm glad to see you, you've been quite busy with work and I was starting to get worried that you've been overworking yourself'.

And then Goro had deflated, his bright aura and hidden murderous intent evaporating to leave a somber look on his face as his eyes intently searched Akira's features. Akira stared back at him without breaking eye contact and Futaba watched curiously from her seat on one of the chairs.

There was _some_ underlying, unspoken conversation happening between Akira and Goro, and Futaba seemed to know what it was about.

Ann shared a look with Ryuji to find confusion written all over his face as well. She looked back to see Goro had put the bag of snacks he carried on the table and went to sit next to Akira who leaned slightly in his direction and carefully nudged Goro's shin with a foot. Goro sighed and dropped his head to Akira's shoulder.

And just like that, whatever tension there was carefully hidden in Goro's frame, melted away and the atmosphere lightened.

Ann felt herself relaxing and followed Ryuji in throwing herself to the couch with an excited whoop.

Futaba blinked at them all in confusion, clearly not understanding what the byplay that just happened between Akira and Goro meant.

Ann smiled kindly at her; she didn't know what Goro's interactions with Akira these past few minutes meant in exact detail, but she understood enough of the nuances to understand that whatever it was, Goro and Akira were going to resolve it on their own.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on it; it was time to spend with Futaba, Goro and Akira could wait for another day.

.

A couple of days later, the Thieves plus Akira made their way to the beach. By some miracle, Goro came along as well.

Ann suspected the miracle was called Akira as she saw Goro sit close to Akira at the table, eyes riveted to Akira's form as he pressed a can of a cold beverage against his neck to alleviate the heat.

Ann shared a look with Makoto as the two attempted to smother a smile at the sight.

"Sorry for making you wait!" Ann called out as she stepped towards them, Makoto close behind her. Akira sent them a smile before he looked searchingly behind them, no doubt looking for Futaba who hesitantly walked out of the restroom in her own swim suit- with a towel wrapped around her head.

Makoto smiled and unraveled the towel from around Futaba's head, "There."

Futaba looked around her at the whole group before she locked eyes with Akira, who gave her an encouraging smile, and Futaba smiled back.

Ann found the bond Akira and Futaba were forming together quite endearing. She didn't know whether it was because the two had the same guardian or because they spent a lot of time together at Leblanc, but it made Ann quite happy- she didn't have to worry about Futaba not finding friends outside of the Phantom Thieves.

Ann beamed as she took in the sight of her friends gathered together on the beach. It was time to have some fun!

.

Ann wouldn't deny that she missed Ren during those few days they were too busy to hang out with the Thieves. So, when Ren asked the Thieves to meet up, Ann jumped at the opportunity. And she wasn't the only one, as the rest agreed to meet up as well.

(She wanted to be surprised over Goro being one of the first to agree to the meeting, but she honestly wasn't. She wasn't even surprised about Futaba agreeing to it as well- Ren _had_ been the one who smoothed over the Thieves' contact with Futaba, after all.)

Ren asked them to meet up at a karaoke, citing privacy, which tipped Ann off to the fact that Ren wanted to discuss something serious with them.

"I've got the room rented for a few hours, so that we can talk as much as we want without being interrupted," Ren said and gestured for them to sit.

When everyone settled down, Ren looked them all in the eye one by one, their expression not betraying anything despite the serious air they carried about them, "To be honest, there's something I've been curious about for some time now. Given what happened with Madarame and Kaneshiro, and with you all being part of a group, the same group which includes Tantei-san as well, what do you all think of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?"

Ann blinked in shock- _that_ was one question she didn't expect. Not from Ren, at least not after _all_ this time.

"What we think of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?" Yusuke parroted, "What exactly do you mean by that, Ren-san?"

"What I mean is, are you with them, against them? Do you have any reservations about them? What's your opinion about their methodology and targets? What do you think they aim for?" Ren shrugged, "That kind of thing."

"Of course we're with them!" Ryuji, unsurprisingly, burst, "And reservations? What reservations? They target corrupt adults and work towards changing society!"

Ann smiled, a bit subdued, "I'm with them. After all, they helped us out with Kamoshida."

"Indeed." Yusuke nodded, "They helped me see what Madarame was truly like; they have opened my eyes and saved me from further throwing myself deeper into an endless pit."

Makoto frowned with a serious look in her eyes, "They stopped Kaneshiro. You know the story."

"Yes, I do." Ren nodded and looked at Futaba who looked them straight in the eye without saying anything, and Ren smiled lightly.

"Well then, Tantei-san, what do _you_ think?"

Ann tensed, carefully observing Goro who looked contemplatively at Ren. Ann was… scared. It probably sounded ridiculous, but she was scared. Despite Makoto comforting her about it, it didn't stop her from worrying more about it.

"What do I think, hm?" Goro cradled his chin in his hand, "You are asking me this question in my capacity as a detective who has prior experience in dealing with phantom thieves."

Ren nodded and Ann curled her hands to fists, her worry increasing by the minute. Goro hummed thoughtfully before continuing, "They have their own moral compass and image of justice that they follow, without necessarily adhering to the law."

"And that doesn't bother you? What does that mean when it comes to whether or not the Thieves are truly just?"

"What defines the parameters of justice in the first place? The word of the law or its spirit? Or neither of those? Is it an instated government body comprised of humans or the population, also comprised of humans? Humans aren't infallible; they get corrupted- by money, power, fame. Who gets to decide what counts as true justice and what doesn't? And I don't need to go into the topic of who could have the moral high ground because that's an argument that will never see an end, regardless of how the method employed by the Phantom Thieves works."

Ann's grip grew lax and she saw Makoto carefully eye Goro with relief.

Ren clapped, "You know, this is why you're my favorite detective. But now, let me move on to the main reason I broached this topic with you all today- you all heard about the rising fame of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts? It's growing quite considerably."

"Yeah!" Ryuji seemed to regain his steam now that the topic came back to welcome territories.

"You know that's not necessarily a good thing," Ren added, observing the Thieves as they let out various exclamations of shock; Goro remained quiet, lips pressed into a thin line.

"How could it NOT be a good thing?" Ryuji asked, scowling, "They're getting more known, they're getting recognized, aren't they?"

"They are," Ren conceded, "But listen to me." Ren's expression grew somber, "From someone who follows the career of a phantom thief to another, gaining popularity and recognition, gaining fame, is a double edged sword."

Makoto let out a soft 'oh'.

"Usually, when it comes to your typical phantom thieves, it's an open and shut case- they steal, regardless of their motives and what they do with their loot afterwards, it's the showmanship, the entertainment the public receives during a thief's heists is what leads to the romanticizing of the exploits of the aforementioned thief. It's easy to predict.

"But the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are different. There's no entertainment, no extravagant heists, no clear theft targets. They steal the metaphorical 'hearts' of people, make them change their view of the world, _drastically_." Ren made sure to look at them all as they spoke, "That's a power they hold, and the public knows it, the public believes it. The Phantom Thieves have a site where the public can approach them to ask them to change the heart of someone." Ren twirled a curl of their hair around their finger as they grew silent for a moment before they resumed talking, "I hope you can consider the implications of that. Furthermore, whenever phantom thieves reach such level of fame, they are faced with more hurdles, and maintaining their goals and M.O.s alongside handling outside interferences becomes a balancing act.

"Long story short, with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts rising in popularity to such levels, I don't want you all to feel shocked or blindsided if something happens and the Thieves, ah, 'fall from grace'." Ren stood up and headed to the door of the room, "Please remember that the public is fickle, I want you to be careful with it. Fame isn't everything." Ren then took a deep breath and sent them a fond smile, "Like I said before, the room has been booked for a couple more hours, have fun!" With a wave, Ren exited the room.

"What?!" Ryuji looked ready to wrench open the door and go chasing after Ren, "What was that all about?!"

"That was actually a good piece of advice." Morgana chose that moment to worm his way out of Makoto's bag.

"True." Makoto nodded, "I think we needed to hear that. What do you think, Goro?"

"I agree." Unlike the rest of the Thieves, Goro didn't seem to have been particularly unsettled by what Ren just said, "I've investigated a few phantom thieves and did my research on many others during my work as a detective, and I can attest to what Ren just said. We're going to have to be careful about our targets from now on. Especially with the knowledge of there being someone else using the Metaverse to cause mental shutdowns." Goro blinked, "Speaking of which, Sis is working on that case, maybe I could check and see if I can get some information from her."

"That sounds like a good idea, but how are you going to do it?" Makoto bit her lip, "With how Sis is serious about her work, I doubt she'd let you know about the important details if it's not your case."

Goro cocked his head to the side, "Her laptop probably has data or evidence that may be useful. If I could somehow dig into it and get the data on it…"

Futaba chuckled as she reached into a pocket and produced a storage device, "Well, if you're looking for something to extract data…"

Goro looked at her curiously, "Oh?"

Futaba pushed the device into his hand, "Stick it into the laptop and it'll do all the work." She grinned deviously.

Goro chuckled, "Are you ready, Mako? We're going to steal data from dear Sis."

Makoto looked both amused and resigned, "Let's get it over and done with."

.

"And voila." Goro handed the device over to Futaba, who immediately got to work.

"This is a lot of data," Futaba hummed, "It will certainly take a lot of time to go through this. It will definitely be ready by the time you're back from Hawaii."

"Speaking of the trip to Hawaii," Makoto started, "Goro and I will be joining you."

"Huh?" Ann raised her head to look at Makoto inquisitively.

"But you're not in our year," Ryuji said.

"True," Makoto said, "But due to what's currently happening at school, the teachers need help from some of the third years to act as chaperones."

"Chaperone? Goro?" Ryuji scoffed, "You want _Goro_ to _chaperone_ the trip _Akira_ is going on to _Hawaii_?"

Ann didn't bother muffling her giggles, "He'll end up ogling Akira throughout the whole trip."

"Heh, Goro is the one who needs to be chaperoned there."

"Excuse you," Goro hissed, "I take my work seriously. And if I'm put on chaperoning duty, then I'll definitely be chaperoning." Goro's mouth stretched into a sickeningly sweet smile.

Ryuji was not fazed, "Uh-huh. We'll be going to Hawaii, which means beach, which means Akira in a swimsuit. Which means Akira's _Legs_. You don't get to see them often, do you?"

"I fail to see how that is related," Goro said, frowning, though his cheeks were reddening.

"I thought you'd die if you ever went with him to the beach," Ann mused, "But I was wrong and I understand that. But I do think you'd _definitely_ die if you've ever been with him to the hot baths."

Goro stared blankly at one of the walls, face completely red; Anna and Ryuji high-fived.

.

Spending time in Hawaii wasn't that much different from spending time in Japan; a fact Ryuji never failed to articulate with various levels of disgruntlement.

The first night they spent there didn't start off favorably for Ann; her roommate went to spend time with her boyfriend, taking the keys with her, which got Ann accidentally locked out of the room. She sighed and trudged off, deciding to go to Akira's room to see if she can stay there for a bit.

After she reached the room, she saw that Ryuji was there as well.

"Is something wrong?" Akira asked, blinking lazily from where he leaned against the window while Ryuji looked at her from his seat on one of the beds and Mishima stared in curiosity.

Ann sighed and explained the situation.

"I think I'll be staying here for the night," Ann mused.

"But." Mishima worried his lower lip, "There are only two beds, and if one takes the couch, there will still be someone stuck sleeping on the floor."

"We could play cards," Ryuji said, pointing to the deck of cards sitting on a table in the corner, "And the loser will get the floor."

Mishima looked more worried while Ann grinned widely, Akira didn't even react, merely maintaining his curious expression.

Ann had no doubts Ryuji would lose.

And she was correct.

(The game of cards was brutal, friendships were almost torn, blackmail was aired about, faith in humanity was forever lost, unholy revenge schemes were hatched, and a lot of fun was had.)

Thankfully, the rest of the trip was a bit better.

Probably the only highlight was when she and Ryuji asked Akira about his girl type and he turned to them and responded with the most deadpan expression saying 'my boyfriend better not hear about this'. Ryuji's shocked expression was worthy of a picture.

(Ann had teased, "Does this boyfriend's name start with a 'G' and end with 'oro'?" And Akira had blinked at her in that way that told her he just had an idea only he would think brilliant; Ann suspected it had to do with the golden A-letter keychain Goro mysteriously acquired the next day.)

.

But maybe she shouldn't have taken the trip so lightly.

The moment they got back to Japan, things seemed to just go downhill.

Goro was accosted almost immediately after their return to partake in an interview about the Phantom Thieves of Hearts now that the media remembered that Japan did, indeed, have a young genius detective who'd been dealing with phantom thieves for a couple of years now, and whom they could ask for opinions.

And he was young and handsome enough to warrant enough attention from the masses.

Now, the Phantom Thieves had no problem with their leader getting the praise he deserved for the efforts he put forth, but the timing was horrible; the Thieves were in a tight spot with the public clamoring for them to steal the heart of the CEO of Okumura Foods, and with tensions running high among the Thieves themselves as Ryuji's and Morgana's regular fights escalated in heat until Morgana left, they needed their leader with them.

Except Goro wasn't present for any of it.

Ann looked worriedly at Makoto, who was clenching her fist hard enough her fingernails were digging into her palm.

"Makoto…?"

Makoto sighed, her grip relaxing, "I need to tell Goro about this development." Makoto took out her phone and started texting Goro.

A few moments later, Ann's phone buzzed with incoming messages- it was the Thieves' groupchat.

 **Goro:** I have heard about what just happened.

 **Goro:** We'll meet up tomorrow in Akira's room, he has agreed to lend it to us for the duration of our meeting.

 **Goro:** We are due an important talk together.

Ann bit her lip and looked at Makoto with apprehension.

Makoto pocketed her phone and looked back at Ann with a grim expression.

.

The Thieves gathered in Leblanc' attic on the next day; instead of finding Akira waiting for them, they were met with the sight of Goro sitting cross-legged on Akira's bed.

Goro sent them all a searching look and pointed towards the table off to the side, already prepared for the gathering. The Thieves quietly settled around the table.

Honestly, Ann felt like she was about to be scolded and grounded.

Goro walked towards them until he stood in clear view of all of them and sighed tiredly.

"This brings back memories of that conversation we had with Ren before leaving for Hawaii," Goro started, "I don't think any of you would forget that particular conversation anytime soon. On the topic of stealing Okumura's heart- as much as I would love to start working on it, we can't at the moment. Our goal isn't to pander to the public's desires- something we'll definitely be doing if we listened to what they say and changed hearts to their whims. If we're going to be changing Okumura's heart, then it's going to be on our terms, not just because someone said so." Goro paused to observe their faces, Ann didn't know what he found, but it must have satisfied them, "I'm glad we all understand that point. We're rebels after all, not circus monkeys." Goro smiled widely and Ann smothered a laugh- he was right. The other Thieves shared smiles.

"Now that _that_ topic is out of the way, let's move on to more important matters. Morgana." And the lighthearted mood vanished, replaced by tension and worry.

"While I expected we'll be having our fights with each other- we are a group full of diverse personalities, after all- I did not expect it to cause a rift between us. One great enough to drive one of the members to leave. And not just any member, it's _Morgana_ who left." Goro frowned, "Morgana who is the sole reason the Phantom Thieves of Hearts exist in the first place."

Makoto blinked at Goro in confusion, "What? I know Morgana is one of the 'founding' members of the Thieves, but what's this about him being the reason the Thieves exist?"

Goro sighed and took a seat, "I haven't told you all about this and it's about time I do, given the circumstances."

The Thieves leaned forward to intently listen to Goro speak, "I only told Ryuji about some of these details due to how he ended up in the Metaverse for the first time."

"That's true," Ann said, "You never told me how you first got into the Metaverse, Ryuji said that _he_ was accidentally pulled in when you entered Kamoshida's Palace, but beyond that…"

"I've had the app on my phone for more than two years now," Goro declared, earning shocked looks the rest of the Thieves, "And I've been into and out of the Metaverse frequently during those years. You have all mentioned to me how I seem to have more experience in wielding my two Personas, and handling Shadows. It's because I have been doing it for a couple of years now, before I even started working as a detective, even.

"I didn't have much in the way of information about how things happening in the Metaverse could affect reality so I had to tread cautiously. I'm lucky I didn't accidentally cause mental shutdowns during those years."

"Then how did you figure out to avoid killing the shadows? Or did you not and it was just a precaution from your side?" Makoto inquired.

"…something happened…" Goro trailed off slightly, his gaze distant, "You heard about the rampaging incidents more than a year ago?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"You know how Loki can induce a state of berserk rage as one of his skills?"

"Ye-" Makoto cut herself off with a shocked look, "You don't mean to say…"

"That you're the one responsible for the rampaging incidents?"

Goro scratched his cheek and coughed into his sleeve in embarrassment, "Indeed I do, Makoto, Yusuke. And due to that, I wondered if other things I did to a person's Shadow could affect them outside the Metaverse, and so I decided to do my absolute best to avoid killing the Shadows. Knowing what I do now, I'm glad I came to that conclusion."

"Why did you cause the rampaging incidents?" Futaba cocked her head to the side in curiosity.

"It… was the only thing I could do." Goro leaned his head on his fist, "In the Metaverse, I mean. You know how Shadows are- it didn't take me long to come across a Shadow that spilled one detail too many about their life and I snapped and sent them into a berserk state." Goro sighed, "After I left the Metaverse, I heard about the rampaging incident and so I investigated further. That's how I reached the conclusion that if I use a weak version of the skill on Shadows who are too close to the edge, they'd end up hitting their limit and venting their emotions, which would leave them in a clearer state of mind. It was the closest to a change of heart I could do back then, but it was nothing close to what we could do now."

"Why didn't you change hearts at that time, then?" Yusuke wondered.

"That's where I reach the point about Morgana being the reason the Thieves exist- the reason I didn't change anyone's heart before is because I had _no idea_ I could do such a thing."

There was a moment of silence as the Thieves digested the info.

"It was Morgana who told me about how to change hearts. And then Ryuji persisted on joining me to Kamoshida's Palace and I shared knowledge with him, then Ann joined." Goro half-smiled, "And the rest, as they say, is history."

Goro rose from his seat and stretched, "I want Morgana back with us ASAP, I hope you understand, I owe him quite a lot. Besides, he's our friend now, isn't he?"

The Thieves chorused an agreement.

"Oooh, don't worry." Futaba grinned, "We'll be getting Mona back with us in no time."

"And Ryuji is going to apologize- aren't you, Ryuji?" Ann stared intently at Ryuji who huffed.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Well then, how are we going to start the search for Morgana?" Yusuke asked.

The Thieves grew silent as they contemplated the question, wondering where Morgana may have gone.

It was then that Goro's phone pinged with an incoming message.

The Thieves looked at Goro who frowned as he took out his phone, "This better not be work," He muttered as he unlocked his phone and stared at the screen.

Goro huffed in amusement and slid his phone on the table with the screen, still unlocked, facing up.

The Thieves gathered around the phone to see what it contained and they blinked in shock.

It was a message from Ren sent to what looked like a newly-created group chat called 'The Morgana Investigations'.

The message simply said _'Update!'_ but the attached image was what pulled their attention- it was an image of Morgana napping on a comfortable looking couch.

Then a new message arrived.

 **Ren** : Heard my favorite detective is missing his friend, so I went digging :D

"I believe it is now simply a matter of convincing Ren-san to tell us where they found Morgana," Yusuke said.

"Yeah?" Ryuji said, "Good luck with that."

Makoto smiled, "You can say that again."

Goro retrieved his phone, "Ren won't tell and we all know it."

"Guess we'll have to prepare bribery." Futaba looked at Goro with a devious glint in her eyes, "Quick! Get our esteemed leader in a dress!"

"No!"

.

Eventually, the Thieves decided that Morgana most likely decided to take on Okumura's Palace on his own and headed to the Palace in hopes of finding him.

As they started exploring the place, Crow subtly gestured them all to gather together and he whispered, "I think we're being watched."

"I can feel it too," Queen whispered back, "It doesn't feel malicious, though. It's almost like it's curious?"

"Still, I believe we should stay cautious."

It did not take them long before they finally came across Mona- in the company of another Persona user, whom Mona introduced as the Beauty Thief.

Said Beauty Thief seemed to have words to say to them.

"You!" She pointed at Fox, "Learn to take a hint!"

Fox cocked his head to the side inquisitively.

"And you!" She pointed at Skull next, "You're very vulgar!"

"And _you_!" She then pointed at Crow, "You're too gay to function!"

Silence.

"Excuse _you_." Crow was miffed, "I function sufficiently enough, _thank you very much_."

The Beauty Thief scoffed.

"She got you there, man."

.

Unfortunately, the Thieves didn't make much progress in convincing Morgana to return to them during their visit to Okumura's Palace. The only thing they figured out was the identity of the Beauty Thief: Okumura Haru.

That was when Goro suggested staking out Mementos.

"Someone's been taking care of the requests on the site, and it certainly wasn't us." Goro blinked, "Unless one of you was dealing with requests without telling the rest?"

The Thieves shook their heads.

Ann then smiled enthusiastically, "I can't believe we'll be doing a stake out! And with a detective, to boot!"

Goro shook his head ruefully, "Stake outs aren't as exciting as you think they are. And when phantom thieves are involved in the equation, we'll most definitely end up giving chase. Phantom thieves usually lead you on chases- unless they had a deal to strike or a topic to discuss with you."

"That makes me curious though." Makoto tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "What deals would a phantom thief want to strike with the detective chasing after them? Which topics would they like to discuss?"

Goro sighed, "It differs from one phantom thief to another. Phantom thievery is an industry where individuality and uniqueness is par for the course, and so I've encountered strange things while dealing with them. There was a phantom thief who liked to criticize every security failing he comes across during heists. A pair of phantom thieves who took great pleasure in stealing jewels just so that they can return them a week later- while putting them in the weirdest place they could find and leaving clues to where they hid them."

"I know there is a particular phantom thief whom you get assigned to deal with more than the others?" Yusuke inquired.

Goro huffed, half miffed and half amused, " _Joker_. He's… certainly something. He doesn't have a specific target pattern or M.O., one moment he could be breaking and entering to return items that have been stolen long ago, and the next he could be stealing the watches of everyone in his taskforce. A lot of people associate him with the Amamiya and their heir's not-so-subtle reparations work. But it's certainly far from the only thing he does.

"Anyway, weren't we going to stake out Mementos?"

.

The Thieves staked out Mementos, and Mona and the Beauty Thief did, indeed, show up, and it resulted in a chase.

Crow was not surprised and Panther knew why.

It was almost eerie- how their phantom thief activities went smoothly due to extensive knowledge Crow had about security and patrol details from his work as a detective. It was also quite ironic, and Panther wasn't about to start complaining- neither were any of the Thieves, not even Queen.

They all knew that in their situation, it was for the best to take advantage of what they had at their disposal. One of those assets they had was their existence as a team; a unit in which everyone had the each other's backs, a unit that wouldn't just let go of one of its members.

 _This_ was what led the Thieves to a chase on foot to catch up with their missing team member and potential new member (given their track record), this was what led the Thieves to follow after the two back into the real world, and it was what led the Thieves to stand protectively around Okumura Haru and Morgana in a street in the night, ready to fend off the guy who seemed to be looming over Okumura.

Or trying to.

It seemed Ren had come across Okumura and Morgana by accident just in time to step in between Okumura and the guy staring at her with a dark look in his eyes and a countenance that promised retribution.

After the Thieves chased him off, they turned to Okumura, who was holding her arm close to her body and staring at the ground with melancholy.

"Is your arm okay?" Ren started, pulling Okumura's attention towards them.

Once Okumura refocused at them and nodded, Ren continued, "Now, how do you feel?"

Okumura sucked in a deep breath and her frame trembled a bit before she straightened up and smiled, "I'll be fine. Thank you for your help. I apologize for bothering you."

Ren's features softened, "You do not have to apologize." They smiled gently at Okumura, "Any friend of theirs-" Ren gestured to the Thieves, "-is a friend of mine. Besides, you've been taking care of Morgana. Helping you out was the least I could do."

Okumura ducked her head, her cheeks gaining a slight rosy hue.

"Who was that guy?" Ann took the opportunity to approach Okumura and lay a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Okumura raised her head to look at her and smile sadly, "That was my fiancé."

"Your fiancé?" Makoto was shocked.

"And he threatens you like that?" Ren murmured, voice a couple of octaves lower, tone dark, "You know what? I'll be leaving you in their care." Ren gestured to the Thieves; Goro sent Ren a warning look, and Ren looked back at him with a terrifying expression, their eyes holding promises of retribution, "I have some pests to deal with."

Ren then turned on their heels and left, their steps purposeful; the Thieves watched them go until they rounded a corner.

Goro pulled their attention to him as he walked closer to Okumura, "We shouldn't be staying outside so late. Let's take you somewhere to rest, you must be exhausted."

"Where are we going to take her?" Futaba asked.

"Leblanc," Goro answered, "It seems we'll be burrowing Akira's room for a bit yet again."

Ann sighed and shook her head, "I can't believe how Akira's keeps lending us his room for meetings. Is it boyfriend privilege?" She sent a scrutinizing look Goro's way.

Goro's cheeks flushed, "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Sure you don't."

Okumura giggled, some of the tension in her shoulders slipping away, "Alright. Thank you all very much."

.

With Haru joining them, the Thieves were able to continue through Okumura's Palace and steal his Treasure.

And then all they had to do was wait for the change of heart.

Ann did not like the waiting game- she never liked it; she'd always stress about how things would go after they stole the Treasure, and Ren wasn't around like usual to lighten the mood. Not even by way of messages.

Ann sighed, attracting Goro's attention from where he was sipping his coffee in the seat across from her while working on his homework (between school, detective work, being the leader of the Phantom Thieves and the sudden media attention focused on him due to the Thieves' popularity, Ann wondered how he managed).

"Is something the matter?" Goro put his cup of coffee down on the table and rested his chin on a hand. Aside from the two of them and Boss, Leblanc was empty.

Not even _Akira_ was around, and Ann wanted to know where the hell he disappeared to so late at night.

"I'm just a little worried."

"About?"

"Uh. Ren-chan." Ann almost winced right after she answered; she was almost certain _that_ would burden Goro more.

The look Goro had in his eyes intensified, it quite resembled the look he'd send to a Shadow he never encountered before and as such was trying to figure out its weakness. Ann wasn't bothered, as the look wasn't directed at her.

"You have a reason to worry. Ren hasn't been very talkative lately, it's almost like they're planning something. What, I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had anything to do with Haru's fiancé."

Ann cocked her head to the side, "Does it have to do with the look they had on their face that day?"

"Indeed. I know that look, it never boded well to whoever caused it- Ren can be quite spiteful when the mood strikes, if you hear anything about Sugimura being strapped to a streetlight in his underwear, don't be surprised."

Ann's lips twitched into a smile while she simultaneously scrunched her nose, "You know, that mental image is both amusing and horrifying."

Goro beamed at her, "If I had to suffer by having such mental images stuck in my head since the day we encountered Sugimura, I'm dragging you all down with me. In fact-" Goro pulled out his phone, his smile gaining a sharp edge, "-I'm going to do just that."

Ann didn't need to ask what he was doing when she received the messages herself through the group chat that included both the Thieves and Ren.

 **Goro:** I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering about Ren's whereabouts.

 **Makoto:** True.

 **Goro:** As the resident detective, it is my duty to share my conspiracy theory about it.

Ann pressed a hand to her mouth to smother her smile as she watched the three dots on the screen indicating that Goro was typing.

 **Goro:** Sugimura.

 **Haru:** What about him?

 **Goro:** If anyone hears any news about him being found naked in public, do not be surprised.

 **Ryuji:** DUDE

 **Ryuji:** DUDE WHY

 **Ryuji:** WHY

 **Ryuji:** WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT

 **Ryuji:** I DID NOT NEED THAT MENTAL IMAGE

 **Makoto:** NIIJIMA-AKECHI GORO!

Ann couldn't help the startled laugh that burst from her mouth as she snickered about the chat degenerating into a series of horrified exclamations and Makoto verbally flaying Goro. In front of her, Goro was smirking at his phone in satisfaction.

The door to Leblanc opened at that moment and Akira stepped through.

Goro looked up from his phone and his smirk softened into a smile when he saw Akira, "Welcome back."

"Honey, I'm home," Akira responded, expression not twitching at what he just said.

"You're back awfully late." Goro did not miss a beat and Ann _needed_ to tell the rest about this- it was going straight into the 'Local Detective Boy Thirsts After Local Barista More At 8' group chat.

(Ann inwardly pouted for a fraction of a second when she saw that Futaba beat her to it.)

Ann raised her head just in time to see Akira walk over to the table, bend down and kiss Goro on the cheek.

Her mouth dropped in shock and her phone slipped from her hand, clattering to the ground loudly in the ensuing silence. Goro's face exploded into a violent shade of red and steam began rising from his head.

"Good night, darling," Akira murmured into Goro's ear before standing up and stretching, "I'll be heading to bed."

"Sheesh," Boss grumbled half-heartedly from behind the counter, "Stop tormenting the kid."

Akira lazily nodded and headed upstairs, throwing a good night Ann's way on his way upstairs.

"Night, Akira," She called back distractedly, trying to pull herself back together from her shock.

A few moments later, she reached down to retrieve her phone, idly wondering if she should tell the group chat about the kiss as her own retaliation.

If Futaba heard, she'd probably get _cameras_ installed in Leblanc just so that she wouldn't miss anything of the sort in the future.

Ann was brought out of her musings when the TV channel running background noise in the café moved onto the news segment; Ann blinked at the screen as the reporter spoke about the son of a wealthy and influential political family was found hanging upside down from a lamppost while naked- his form covered only by glitter. The surname 'Sugimura' that was shown on screen caused her eyes to widen and she whipped her head to stare incredulously at Goro who seemed to be still miles away.

Her phone pinged with the stream of messages being received.

 **Ryuji:** HOLY SHIT

 **Futaba:** Hah!

 **Haru:** That was…!

 **Makoto:** Goro! Respond! Oh my god!

 **Makoto:** Ren, you didn't do this, did you?

Ann put her phone down and leaned back in her seat, chuckling lightly.

Goro was snapped from his daze by the sound of his phone ringing; he quickly shook his head and answered the phone.

After greeting whoever was on the other end of the line, Goro's expression changed from curiosity to shock, "He did _what_?" Goro turned his head towards the TV and observed the news, "Oh god," He said after a moment, "I cannot believe- actually, wait. Yes, I can believe. I'll be on my way." Goro ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket before he started to gather his things, "Sorry for the abrupt departure but it seems that Joker struck again and I need to go do my job." He sighed and smiled at Boss, "Thank you for the coffee, it was delicious as always."

Ann stood from her seat, "Yes, thank you, Boss! Goro, I'll be going with you to the train station. I need to head back home before the last train leaves anyway." With that, the two left the café.

.

The hilarity from what was later dubbed The Sugimura Incident did not last long.

The Thieves didn't know what happened this time- what was so different to cause such an outcome.

Okumura Kunikazu had suffered a mental shutdown in the middle of his confession during a press conference, and with his health…

Okumura Kunikazu died not long after.

It was devastating, horrifying and terrifying.

This was the first time something like this had happened, and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts had no idea what changed.

And then things grew _worse_. The public denounced their group as murderers, the police were knocking on Shujin's doors again to interrogate the students, Haru was stricken due to her father's death, and Goro was barely around with the media clamoring for his presence in talk shows more to interview him about the Phantom Thieves and what he thought of Okumura's death.

And then Futaba informed them about the person who was behind Medjed's threat being behind Okumura being voted as target on the Phan-site.

They'd been played, for a couple of months, at least.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Ann recalled the conversation Ren had with them about what could happen with the Phantom Thieves' growing fame.

Makoto seemed to share her thoughts, "I think… I think we need to go talk to Ren-san about this, they may have something to say."

"Should we call them, then?" Yusuke asked.

Makoto nodded, "Please. I'll make sure to fill Goro in later."

After Yusuke made the call, Ren did not take long to arrive, which clued them in on the fact that they weren't very far from the aria.

Ren stepped into Leblanc's attic, which was, once more, loaned to them for their meeting- the Thieves owed Akira so much for letting them crash at his place for meetings away from the public.

Ren looked at them all and sighed, "I was afraid things may come to this."

Ann blinked at them, "You expected someone would frame the Phantom Thieves of Hearts for murder?"

Ren shook their head, "Not exactly for _murder_ , but yes, I did expect that the Phantom Thieves of Hearts would be framed for a crime they didn't commit. After all, their M.O. makes it easy to do so."

"How?" Makoto asked.

"No one knows anything about them," Ren started, "The only thing the public has to link them to anything is the calling card- which isn't exactly a reliable source for verification, as it could be faked. But it's not like the public would care. The Phantom Thieves don't have a voice, they're mysterious, hidden, with no face to show to the public, and as such, they can't give out their accounts for the public."

"Give their accounts for the public?" Ryuji parroted, "Isn't staying hidden the thing about phantom thieves?"

"True. But if you're a phantom thief and seek to remain hidden, you should cover all your bases to avoid copycats and your name being used by others. Having a public persona has its pros and cons. Pros include having a defined presence in public; cons include leaving behind a trail that could be tracked if you don't hide it well enough, which increases chances of being caught."

"You know a lot, Ren-chan," Haru said, "That's amazing."

Ren merely waved it off, "I did tell the rest of your group before that they're not the only ones following the career of a phantom thief. Besides, I know for a fact Tantei-san could have told you the same thing had he been around and you asked him."

"True." Makoto nodded.

"Speaking of Tantei-san." Ren sat down on one of the chairs, "I can't believe he's _now_ receiving attention from the media. I'm pretty sure the phantom thief community is quite scandalized."

"Why?" Yusuke asked.

" _Why_?" Ren parroted, sounding incredulous, "Oh, Tantei-san had only been thwarting phantom thieves for only _two years_. The media is _at least_ one year too late to clamor for his attention." Ren scoffed, "If he'd only let me…" Ren trailed off, their eyes glowing with an unholy gleam that promised untold horrors.

"Speaking of which." Futaba piped up, "You know some of those phantom thieves Goro stopped on more than one occasion held heists in _public_? And some of those heists were _recorded_ and can be found online?"

Haru perked up, "Oh, are you suggesting we watch some of those?"

Ren leaned forward, "The Clock Tower Heist is a favorite of mine, I highly recommend you watch it."

.

With the school festival coming up, Makoto recruited the Thieves attending Shujin plus Akira as members of the executive committee. While they couldn't discuss phantom thief business with Akira around, they had managed to get Goro to at least exist in their vicinity, even if it was just to do more work, or rather…

The group worked quietly as Goro slept, his head cushioned on his arms over the table. It wasn't the most ideal sleeping place, but Goro needed all the sleep he could get; the bags under his eyes were starting to look like they could hold all their Metaverse supplies.

"I had thought we could get him to rest and catch up on sleep on the festival day," Makoto murmured as she opened the paper in her hands, "But I don't think that would be possible. All the students are voting to have him on the panel as a speaker."

"We probably could have gotten away with telling everyone we couldn't get him to attend if he didn't attend Shujin in the first place." Haru bit her lip.

"Yeah." Ann sighed, "They'd all complain about how the executive committee couldn't get one of the students at the same school to be the speaker on the panel. Ugh."

Goro stirred a bit in his sleep as if he was about to wake and Akira reached a hand to card gently through Goro's hair; Goro sighed contently and relaxed in his posture, returning to his slumber.

Makoto smiled softly, "Thank you for helping us out, Akira-kun. I'm truly glad Goro met you; I don't think I've ever seen him relax around someone so fast."

"You don't need to thank me," Akira whispered as he returned to opening the votes one-handed, "Goro seems to have grown quite popular, should I be worried that someone may attempt to steal him from me?"

There was a smattering of muffled chuckles around the room and Ryuji shook his head in disbelief, "Dude, I don't think that's even possible."

"Too true," Makoto said with a mischievous smile on her face, "I think it's the legs."

"Should I start wearing dresses then?" Akira inquired, face perfectly calm.

Ann sent him a wicked smile, "Our class is planning on involving a maid dress in our stand, should we have Akira wear it, you think?"

Akira cocked his head to the side before leaning towards Goro and whispering into his ear, "What do you think, _master_?"

Goro buried his head into his arms and whined, his voice muffled, " _Akira!_ "

"You woke him up?" Ann and Makoto hissed at Akira who shook his head.

Goro raised his head, and attempted to smooth his disheveled hair and push down the blush staining his cheeks a bright red, "I've already been awake for a couple of minutes, and…" He trailed off before turning to look at Akira with a serious look on his face, "You don't have to worry about someone stealing me from you. Even if something similar to it happens, I trust that you'll steal me back?"

Akira's eyes bore into Goro's with an inscrutable look before he leaned close to Goro and whispered with a deep voice laden with promise, " _Of course_."

"Whew!" Ann mimed fanning herself, "Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?"

"Hot?" Akira inquired, still staring intently at Goro, "Should we strip, then?"

Goro's face flared a brighter red, "No!"

.

The second day of the festival came and with it the guest speaker panel- though maybe calling it a 'guest' speaker panel wasn't exactly accurate given that the speaker was a student of the school itself.

Goro was asked plenty of questions about the Phantom Thieves, which he deflected easily with the excuse of not being on the Phantom Thieves case in the first place and, as such, not having access to information. He and Makoto successfully redirected the questions towards a different route Goro can answer comfortably, and that was other phantom thieves.

It was rather amusing to watch for the Thieves, given that most of the students barely knew much about any phantom thieves aside from the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and so didn't have any important questions.

Goro ended up regaling the students of tales of events that happened during Phantom Thief Joker's heists- including one where Goro himself ended up in a dress.

Ann was honestly amazed by Goro's ability to direct the questions in the directions he wanted; it never ceased to impress her to see Crow negotiate with Shadows for money or items in the Metaverse, and seeing it in real life only drove it in deeper.

She wondered where all that eloquence disappeared off to whenever he was talking with either Akira or Ren.

After the panel drew to a close, Goro and Makoto sought the rest out.

"Where is Akira-kun?" Makoto asked as she and Goro directed the Thieves towards the PE faculty office, which was empty.

"Dunno." Ryuji shrugged, "One moment he was there, the other he wandered off."

"At least this way we won't have to come up with an excuse to gather without him," Goro said and Makoto gave him a look.

"You know, I know that the Phantom Thieves business is an important secret, but I also know that Akira-kun is very important to you. Why do you insist on keeping this a secret from him?" Makoto asked, looking a little bit miffed.

"Plausible deniability." Goro smiled at her.

"Man," Ryuji started, "I could've sworn I heard you say something similar to this some time ago."

"It was about Ren-chan," Ann said, "When we first met them, remember?"

"Oh, right."

"Moving on," Goro started, "There is something important I want to discuss with you."

The Thieves focused all their attention on their leader as he spoke.

"The situation surrounding the Phantom Thieves of Hearts is escalating," Goro started, expression grave, "And things are growing considerably serious. Various phantom thief capture taskforces are being disbanded and regrouped into one single taskforce under Sis' command to capture the Phantom Thieves. So, not only do we have to deal with the police and Sis, but also other phantom thieves."

"What?!" Ryuji exclaimed, eyes wide, "Why?! Aren't they phantom thieves too? Why would we have to deal with them?"

"Our group is different from the other thieves in this regard- unlike us, having a taskforce is a point of pride for a phantom thief; a taskforce is a recognition of sorts to the thief's skill and so phantom thieves grow possessive of their respective taskforces."

"Which would mean other phantom thieves would come after us to get their taskforces back," Makoto said, "Is there a chance that other thieves may help us instead?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know how I factor in all of this for other thieves. I am a member of a specific taskforce myself while also being the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts."

Makoto hummed thoughtfully, eyebrows knitted together in deep thought, "How would Joker take the situation?"

Goro closed his eyes for a moment before he sighed tiredly, "Joker is the type to stick his nose into such situations and I don't want him involved. At all."

Ann smiled gently, "I guess that thief-taskforce possessiveness doesn't go in just one direction, right Goro?"

Goro stared at her in slight shock before he shook his head, smiling ruefully, "You're absolutely correct."

"What about Niijima-san?" Yusuke inquired, "What methods has she come up with to capture us?"

"This is where the situation becomes graver." Goro frowned, "It hasn't been announced yet, but there is going to be a reward of _thirty million yen_ to anyone who turns in the Phantom Thieves."

"For real?!"

"Thirty million yen?!"

"That's crazy!"

"Indeed. They are planning to take down the Phantom Thieves no matter the cost- even if they have to falsely accuse an innocent for it."

"What?!" Ann cried out, "You can't be serious! Makoto! Say something!"

Makoto avoided the looks sent her way from the others, her facial expression clearly torn," I'm sorry, Ann," Makoto said in a regretful tone, "I'm afraid I can't deny it. Sis… Sis has changed and I can't say she won't resort to such methods to close the case. She's doesn't have her eyes set on finding out the truth… I… I am sorry. I haven't told you all about this before but…" Makoto trailed off and Goro nodded, seemingly knowing what she was going to say.

"You didn't want to believe it. I understand; it's a difficult pill to swallow," Goro said, looking downcast.

"What are you two talking about?" Morgana asked.

"We're talking about the fact that Sis has a Palace," Makoto answered, "I've known for some time but I didn't say anything. I'm sorry."

"Oh, Mako-chan." Haru put a comforting hand on Makoto's shoulder.

"Niijima Sae has a Palace?" Ann murmured to herself.

"Should we do something about it then?" Yusuke wondered.

Futaba frowned, "If we change her heart, it will help with the investigation, won't it?"

"Besides," Goro added, "Having Sis in such a position makes her a prime target for the culprit behind the mental shutdowns, and that is something I don't want to risk. So, please, would you all help me change Sae's heart?"

"Of course I'll help you and Mako-chan out!" Haru chimed, sending a soft smile Makoto's way.

"Yeah!" Ann said, "Count me in!"

"Me too!"

As the rest of the Thieves chorused an agreement, Morgana piped up, "All in agreement? We have our next target now! We'll begin looking into the Palace tomorrow!"

.

Niijima Sae's Palace was a casino. It was completely unexpected.

Crow observed the place and the cards falling down from the ceiling and snorted.

"What's the matter?" Fox asked.

"Casino. Playing cards. Aces high _Jokers_ wild." Crow huffed a laugh, "I'm somewhat expecting Joker to dramatically crash through one of the windows and land right in front of us."

The rest of the Thieves shook their heads in amusement and followed after Crow when he started moving.

"So, we're going to get ourselves membership cards?" Panther asked, "I can't believe we're actually doing this."

"Can you imagine if we actually ended up having to gamble our way through the Palace?" Crow tilted his head to the side to look at her, "The mere idea makes me want to just scour the place and loot everything, get back to the real world and get ourselves a couple of grapple hooks and a length of rope."

Queen stared at him, "That sounds… good actually. We'd save up a lot of time and effort if we did have a grapple hook."

"How about a grapple gun?" Noir quirked her head to the side, "That would be better, right?"

"Except for the part where none of us knows how to use one." Mona lamented, "As many supplies as we have with us, there are certainly certain aspects of phantom thievery that we're missing out on."

"Well," Crow started, "Phantom thieves don't typically have to engage in combat like we do."

"We're quite combat-focused for thieves, aren't we?" Queen wondered.

"Hey, at least our leader nabs everything that isn't nailed down," Oracle interjected.

.

They did end up having to gamble their way through the Palace.

"My detective instincts tell me that everything is rigged against us," Crow murmured, "And that we should find away to rig the games in our favor to be able to proceed."

Oracle snickered, "Your detective instincts, huh? I don't think this is the place to call them as such, oh great leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts."

"Details." Crow waved a hand, "Besides, I'm not always a straight-laced person."

"Crow, there is nothing straight about you."

"I put on my dress shirt in the morning like a good detective," Crow continued, without reacting to Oracle interjection, "I tidy my collar and keep my tie neat, and no one would see the hickies underneath." He preened, "And if the concealer doesn't cover the bags under my eyes, people assume the lack of sleep is due to work and not a sex marathon."

The rest of the Thieves did a collective spittake.

"Wait, WHAT?"

"Was that… you're kidding, aren't you?" Queen was incredulous.

"About the hickies, sex, or both?" Crow smiled benignly at her.

"Holy shit, color me impressed," Skull muttered, eyes wide behind his mask, "At least he's getting some? And we were worried about him getting laid."

Queen whirled around to look Skull straight in the eye, " _Skull._ "

"Alright, alright! Shutting up now…"

.

The Thieves hit a blockade when they reached the High Limits floor and had to retreat for the day to deal with it from the real world by way of change in cognition.

"Why did you bring Akira with us?" Ann asked, side-eyeing Goro, "It's been a while since you two had some alone time, hasn't it? What with your work and all? And the first thing you do after you finally meet up again is to take him to a court room? Court rooms aren't romantic. At all. I hope you have plans of taking him out later to someplace better than this?"

"Of course," Goro agreed, "Honestly, a court room doesn't offer the privacy I need but, as you said, I've been really busy lately, so has Akira, and I'm going to still be busy until after we're finished with the Palace- so, I'm taking any chance I could get my hands on to spend time with him."

"Good." Ann nodded.

"You think I can steal a moment or two and make out with him in one of the toilets?" Goro wondered, facial expression looking far too innocent to be worn while asking such a question.

Ann sputtered, "Oh god, _no!_ "

.

The Thieves cleared the High Limits floor on the same day, despite almost calling it a day and leaving when they learned they needed to send one of them to fight in an _arena_. Thankfully, it didn't take them long after to reach where the Treasure was and all that was left was to send the calling card.

That was when Goro suggested they delay sending the card a bit.

"Why?"

"The Treasure looks like it almost has a shape, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You are wary of how the Treasure is almost formed, correct? And you want to take a few days to let it be before sending the card and causing it to manifest properly just to be on the safe side."

"And we'll need to lay low in the mean time, we don't want Sis to be more alert about us."

"Everyone in agreement?"

.

The fight against Niijima Sae's Shadow was a difficult one but the Thieves pulled through in the end. All that was left was to take the Treasure and leave before the Palace collapsed.

That was when things went to hell in a handbasket.

It started when Oracle gasped, "No way! Enemies?! Here?!"

As the Thieves sharply turned to look at her, she explained, "There are Shadows flooding the place! At this rate, we won't be able to leave!"

"Would it be possible if we split up and one of us acted as a decoy?" Crow asked, the set of his face grim.

"Yeah…" Oracle trailed off as she observed him, "You're not thinking of acting as decoy, are you?"

There were multiple exclamations from the rest of the Thieves while Niijima's Shadow murmured worriedly, "Goro…"

"My, it seems you're in a bit of a bind," A foreign voice purred across the communication devices Oracle had given everyone before they entered and the Thieves stiffened in shock.

"Wait," Crow started, looking stricken, "What are _you_ doing here? Why are you here? You're not supposed to be here!"

A figure emerged on the higher level of the room, dressed in all black with bright red gloves and a white and black mask on their face, dark hair a mess atop their head, but that was as much details Panther could see from the distance. Crow seemed to recognize them though, given his reaction.

"Oh? And is that supposed to stop me?"

"Why didn't Oracle say any-" Crow cut himself off before his shoulders slumped slightly and he sighed, "You knew, didn't you?" He asked Oracle and she didn't respond, merely pressing her lips into a thin line, which was an answer in and of itself.

"We don't have time to be dallying, you need to escape, don't you?" The figure called out, "Give me the briefcase and I'll act as decoy."

Crow's fists tightened and he shook, quite torn at the suggestion, before he sagged in defeat, "Alright." He then motioned for Skull to throw the briefcase.

Skull hesitated and Crow had to vocalize his order before Skull complied, clearly dissatisfied, and threw the briefcase up in the air. The figure took out what looked like a gun and shot it in the direction of the briefcase; Panther, Skull, Fox and Mona were already exclaiming in outrage before they realized that it was a grapple gun and relaxed.

The rope of the grapple gun wrapped around the briefcase and the figure pulled it towards them.

"Now that this is out of the way," The figure started, "I better see you all outside, safe and sound." With that said, the figure shot off and out of the room.

"Alright, let's go!" Crow straightened, "Noir, Mona and Fox, with me! Panther, Skull and Oracle go with Queen! We'll regroup outside!"

"Alright!"

.

Panther didn't like having to split up to escape in any way, shape or form, but a group as big as theirs couldn't slip away to safety unnoticed; she was thankful that at least her group had Oracle, who could use her Persona's abilities to keep an eye out for how things were going with the mysterious figure.

"Okay, they're heading towards the exit as we speak, and the majority of the Shadows are following after them," Oracle muttered as their group followed after Queen, "There's an ambush laying in wait for them outside the main door but they're well-equipped to deal with it."

"Well-equipped how?" Queen questioned.

"The grapple gun, for one," Crow responded, his voice crackling over the communication line, "And I know them well enough to know they probably have either a smokescreen or a flash bomb on them."

"Who are they?" Panther asked, not liking the idea of a person they didn't know traipsing around the Metaverse without the Thieves' knowledge- that was how the one responsible for the mental shutdowns was operating, after all.

"You know them," Crow started, "You simply aren't used to seeing them like th- _fuck!_ " The group jumped in place at hearing Crow curse. They then heard yelling and the sound of doors banging and footsteps stomping heavily on the floor.

"What are they doing here?!" Noir yelled.

"Perhaps not all of the enemies fell to the decoy trick!" Fox called out.

"What should we do- Crow!" Mona yowled and the sound of a door banging shut and a lock sliding in place was heard.

"Go!" Was the last thing they all heard from Crow before the line to his communication device went dead.

"Crow!" Panther called out, uselessly, through the comm.

"He…" Noir started, voice shaking, "He…" She trailed off, clearly unable to digest what happened; Panther wasn't any better off.

"We need to-" Queen took a deep shuddering breath, "-go!"

"Couldn't have said it better!" The voice of the person in the white mask barked through their comms, "Don't just stand where you are, go!"

The commanding tone in their voice pulled the Thieves out of their stupor and they resumed their escaped.

"Crow…" Oracle whispered, sounding lost.

"Your priority now is to escape!" The stranger spoke again, voice firm, "For now, let's just rendezvous outside!"

.

With the Shadows distracted by the person in black, the Thieves managed to escape the casino without any further hurdles and regroup. After they left the Metaverse, they waited close to the courthouse for the stranger who made off with the Treasure.

"There you all are!" Ren jogged up to them, shocking the Thieves at their appearance. Ren handed them a bag, "Your Treasure." After Makoto took the bag from them, Ren continued, "Tantei-san has most definitely been taken in for interrogation by now-" They raised their hand to silence Ryuji, who was about to open his mouth, no doubt to start questioning Ren, "-and I am going to get him out, come hell or high water. You, on the other hand, I need you to go back to your homes and act as if nothing happened."

"You cannot expect us to comply with such a request!" Yusuke frowned.

"You need to," Ren said, expression grave, "The least suspicions you put yourself under, the better the plan I have in mind to get Tantei-san out will work."

"Plan?" Makoto questioned, "Can you at least tell us what you have in mind?"

"I don't have time to explain everything as I need to go and prepare, but basically, I'll be faking the suicide of the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts who happened to be disguised as Akechi Goro to throw the blame off of himself and onto Tantei-san."

"That's quite ambitious," Haru murmured, worry etched into her features.

"And I'm going to make it happen, so help me god," Ren said, conviction clear on their face, "Now, I need you all to head back and act as if nothing happened."

.

Ann would like to set the record straight- she didn't care that Ren had a plan; the plan was awful, period.

Who concocted a plan that involved faking someone's suicide without having any means to immediately contact the rest of the people in the know about whether or not the plan worked? Especially when the supposedly faked suicide was announced in the news? Ann loved Ren but _honestly_!

Thankfully, Ren didn't take longer than Ann feared and contacted them all on the night of the next day.

 **Ren:** Meet at Leblanc.

That was the only signal Ann needed to bolt towards the train station.

Ren was waiting for them at Leblanc, alongside with Futaba, Morgana, Boss and Niijima Sae; all three of them were circled around Goro who was sitting in one of the booths.

When Ren saw them, they huffed a bit but ushered them to get closer, moving to the side to make space for them.

The Thieves didn't waste the chance to rush towards Goro.

Goro looked up at them and smiled tiredly, looking like he escaped unscathed.

"So they didn't do anything to you, did they?" Ryuji asked, looking relieved at the lack of any injuries on his face- in fact, Goro looked picture perfect, as usual, not like he just made it out of an arrest and an interrogation. Ann did not share Ryuji's sentiment, and clearly, none of the rest did either.

"I beg to differ." Ren snorted, stomping forward again with a wipe in their hand; Goro looked resigned as he tilted his head to allow Ren easier access to his face. Ren wiped down a side of Goro's face. The Thieves gasped in unison at the sight of the ugly, dark bruise marring Goro's cheek.

"What did they do to you, Goro?" Haru whispered, pain and anger lacing her voice.

"Interrogation," Goro murmured, "I'm absolutely thankful for Ren's skills with makeup."

Ren scoffed, a terrifying storm raging in their eyes as they pulled away and headed towards the stairs, "Stay put, I'm just going to get my kit from where I hid it upstairs to remove the current layer of makeup and apply a new one."

After Ren hurried up the stairs, the Thieves converged again around Goro who sighed and leaned back in his seat, eyes cast upwards towards the ceiling.

"Hey," Ann murmured, realizing something, "Akira doesn't know, does he?"

"Fast asleep," Ren said as they came back downstairs with an impressive looking kit in their hand, "I'd prefer it if you don't go up, I don't think you're cat-footed enough." Ren placed the kit on the table and set to work, methodically removing the layers of makeup covering even more bruises and signs of injury, and with each one, the Thieves had to stomp down on their rising anger to quell it long enough to get an explanation (and names).

"Alright," Ren started, as they began working on applying a new layer of makeup to hide the injuries, "Here's how it's going to go for the next couple of days: no running around in anyone's Palace, Tantei-san's state doesn't allow him to. Keep a low profile. Keep an eye on Tantei-san in the meantime, he's too injured to be showing up in public so he'll be going around in disguise while _I_ disguise myself as him and continue the ploy with the fake suicide and supposed disguise trick that failed.

"And I don't want to hear any objections." Ren's voice sharply cut into the air, "Any questions?"

"How did you pull off the faked suicide?" Makoto asked, frowning, "Wouldn't they figure out that something was wrong if there was no body?"

"They didn't check for a body," Sae interjected, "Ren here, disguised as Goro, alongside with detective Edogawa and myself, managed to get rid of the officer guarding the room and fabricate the suicide story. They didn't even check the room or the morgue for the body!"

"Detective Edogawa?" Makoto asked, "That name sounds familiar."

"Detective Edogawa." Goro smiled as much as he could, "He's my mentor, you could say. I was quite relieved when I saw him- Ren?" Goro inquired, staring worriedly at Ren, who was glaring at a point at the wall behind Goro, "Is something wrong?"

" _Yes._ " Ren hissed, "But I'm not going to say, only _that guy_ is the one who must. If I must really say anything, then I suggest asking him about the fact that there was a fucking hit on the leader of the Phantom Thieves and how we managed to thwart it."

"A hit?!" Makoto cried out, "On Goro?!"

"Yes." Ren ground out.

"Um." Haru bit her lip, clearly looking for a way to diffuse the sudden tension that rose in the room, "What about the death certificate, then?"

"That is something I want to know about myself," Sae said, "Neither you nor Edogawa told me anything about how you handled it. Besides, if there was supposed to be a hit…"

"Don't worry about it," Ren said dismissively, "We used the name of a suitable person for it."

"What?!" Ann exclaimed, "You used the name of someone else?! What if they are found and killed for real because of it?!"

"They wouldn't be." Ren shrugged.

"Why are you so casual about this?" Yusuke frowned.

"Indeed," Sae said, "I can't believe you know of a person who could be a suitable substitute for the leader of the Phantom Thieves in such a short time."

Ren snorted, "If they're known in certain circles to be in contact with a phantom thief skilled at disguises, the one who asked for the hit won't question it much. Besides, I have it on good authority that the one who called for the hit fell for it, hook, line and sinker."

"How do you know that for sure?" Goro asked.

"You could say that I acquired a spy in the last 48 hours."

"And who is the one who called for the hit?" Sae's expression was grim.

Ren put down the brush in their hand and cradled Goro's face gently, expecting their handiwork before staring at Goro right in the eye, "Shido Masayoshi."

Silence fell on the group as Sae's, Sojiro's and Goro's eyes widened at the name.

Makoto was the first to break the silence, "Isn't he the politician running for the position of prime minister next month?"

"Yes," Goro hissed, a sharp edge to his voice, "The one and the same." Goro reached a hand into his pocket, no doubt to pull out his phone.

"Tantei-san." Ren grabbed his wrist gently, "Don't."

Goro wrenched his hand from Ren's grasp and his face twisted into an angry sneer, "Don't tell me what to do! This has nothing to do with you!" The Thieves were taken aback at the amount of anger their leader was displaying, not even his most emotional state in which he called Loki out could rival with the amount of fury Goro was currently displaying.

"How about you just get out of here and stop butting your nose into my business!" Goro scowled and Ren stared back at him with a blank face.

Ann was about to open her mouth and call Goro out on his behavior towards Ren, to whom he most likely owed his _life_ , when Ren lunged forward, pressing a knee on the seat, slamming a hand down on the table and cornering Goro as they leaned into his space, the rest couldn't see their facial expression, but when they spoke, their voice came out deep, low and cold with an edge to it, "Give me one reason, one reason, as to why I should actually listen to your bullshit, dear detective. Hm? Your business is my business. It's been two years and I think it's about time I stopped letting you shoulder your burdens by yourself."

Ren pulled themself back and reached a hand to gently card through Goro's hair.

Goro let out a shuddering breath and leaned into the touch, "Okay… okay…"

"Good." Ren hummed, smiling.

Everyone fell into deep thoughts, pondering the situation in silence.

Moments later, Morgana broke the silence, "I've been meaning to ask, how did you know about us being the Phantom Thieves?"

Ren answered without looking at him, "You weren't exactly the most subtle group; even Tantei-san's presence as your leader doesn't discredit the theory that you are the Thieves, particularly for someone who knows him well enough- it was the same with Niijima-chan, wasn't it?"

"Ah!" Makoto jolted slightly before nodding, "That's true."

"I've known for certain when you went after Kaneshiro."

"Guess that should have been obvious to us." Makoto smiled slightly, "Was that the reason you gathered us to talk at the karaoke?"

"Yes. Even though I was unable to find a clue about how you go about things, it wasn't exactly a deterrent. What's a phantom thief who leaves traces behind anyway? And then one day while I've been lurking around Okumura Foods headquarters while looking for new info about how Morgana was doing, you were there and accidentally pulled me along with you. It's been a wild ride since."

"You've been to my father's Palace?" Haru wondered, "What about Niijima-san's Palace? That was you, when did you figure it out?"

"Names," Ren declared, "Remember with Kaneshiro? You were very hung up about not knowing his name; it was important for you to do your work. So I tried out a number of names, none of your names was a hit- except for Niijima-san's. Shido was a wild guess, you could say. I had to take a bit of time to figure out the rest of the details needed to travel to the other world again- the Metaverse, Morgana called it?- and then I set out to work my way through Niijima-san's and Shido's." Ren moved to pack their kit.

"You-!" Ann was completely shocked.

"When did you awaken your Persona?" Yusuke spoke up, "We have seen you in the casino with a mask."

Ren's hands stilled before they resumed working on packing the kit and gave a little derisive chuckle.

"You _have_ awakened a Persona," Goro said, a sharp edge to his voice, " _Right?_ "

"Oh, I have." Ren waved a hand, "You don't need to worry about that."

"When did you awaken your Persona?" Ryuji asked.

"It happened a couple of days into my Metaverse explorations." Ren closed the kit and picked it up, walking towards the stairs, "There was a screaming match involved. I won't be forgetting what happened any time soon. Be back in a sec." Ren walked up the stairs to return the kit to where they brought it from.

After they disappeared up the stairs, Goro exhaled deeply.

"What's the matter?" Futaba asked.

"If they checked our names on the Nav," Goro started, "I wonder if they checked theirs too? They didn't say anything…"

"You're worried that they may have had a Palace?" Haru frowned, "But Ren-chan can't possibly be a bad person."

"You don't have to be a bad person to have a distorted view of the world," Futaba muttered.

Goro slumped in his seat, shoulders hunched, "Oh god, what if they did have one? And it only went away because they awakened to a Persona?"

Morgana hopped up to the table of the booth was occupying, "Hey." He put a paw on Goro's arm, "If they have a Persona now, they must have overcome their distortion by themselves. If they even had a Palace in the first place."

"I know, I'm just-" Goro cut himself off as Ren's footsteps on the stairs announced their return.

"I'm back," Ren declared, "Any more questions?"

"About Shido's Palace," Makoto started, "What can you tell us about it?"

"I'm still working my way through it. It's very big and complex, and I had to do a lot of backtracking due to traps, and…" Ren trailed off, staring into the distance before refocusing, "I won't be telling you the coordinates you'll need to go into his Palace if that's what you're fishing for. Like I said, there won't be any Palace traversing for you for a few days. And don't think about figuring them out on your own." Ren frowned, "Tantei-san is confined to bed-rest, for one. For another, I don't know if you would be able to progress without me."

"Seriously?!" Ryuji scowled, "Hey! We've been doing this for a while, what makes you think we're going to need your help?" He huffed in annoyance.

Ren sent him an amused smirk, "When you go through the Palace, you're going to have to find five key items to open the door you need to go through. I have three of those keys. It's best that we cooperate, don't you think?"

"For real?" Ryuji gaped before he sighed in defeat, "Fine."

"Now, do you agree to wait for a couple of days before we can _all_ go to Shido's Palace?" Ren asked.

The Thieves shared pensive looks but it was Goro who responded first, "I do." He was staring at Ren with an unfamiliar intense look in his eyes. The rest of the Thieves chorused an agreement with him.

"Good." Ren smirked, "Now, off with you all to your homes to sleep for the night. Tantei-san, I'll swing by tomorrow to apply a fresh layer of makeup, alright? A disguise, too, come to think of it- since I'll be walking around with your face. Oh, and I don't need to remind you to remove the makeup before going to bed, hm?"

"I got it, I got it." Goro huffed in mock annoyance.

"Good, see you all tomorrow."

After Ren left, the Thieves gathered close to Goro again.

"Are you really sure you want to do this?" Morgana asked, tail flicking behind him.

"Yes," Goro said, "I don't even want to think about letting them go after Shido alone. Actually, I don't want to think about what they may have gone through, going through two Palaces on their own, I've been in that situation before, but the Palaces I've explored when I was younger weren't that complex. And I _know_ that Shido's Palace is complex if _Ren_ is the one saying so."

"That's true." Ann bit her lip in worry, "It would be too reckless to let Ren continue alone. I'm glad they suggested we work together."

"That was honestly surprising," Goro mused, "I thought they would insist on going through it by themselves."

"Maybe they thought that with us knowing that Shido was the one who ordered the hit on you, we'd figure out he has a Palace and go after him ourselves anyway?" Makoto wondered.

"I don't think that was it." Goro shook his head, "It didn't feel like they were offering the name because they had no other choice." He propped his head on his closed fist, "They even said that they won't let me go after Shido alone. It's... They… you don't understand this, but they've always worked as a one-man team. They had people who helped them out, but Ren did all the work themself. And now they're offering to work alongside us." Goro then looked up at the ceiling, a hint of wonder in his tone as he spoke, "Is it because… are they doing this for…"

Sae walked over to Goro and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Come on, we should head back home so that you can rest for the night."

"Oh, alright." Goro let Sae guide him up and out of Leblanc with Makoto in tow.

With that, the Thieves dispersed for the night.

.

The next day, the Thieves gathered in Leblanc, with a disguised Goro in tow. Though maybe it didn't count as a full blown disguise, Ann noted, as it seemed Ren simply contented themself with giving Goro a light makeup that subtly altered his features, and a wig. With a change of clothes that looked like it came out of Akira's casual wardrobe rather than Goro's usual formal clothes, he was probably unrecognizable for people who didn't know him very well; which worked its intended goal.

Goro sat on one of the stools and turned to the TV, "I heard from Ren that there is supposed to be an interview today with myself and Detective Edogawa about the supposed suicide."

"Oh?" Makoto turned her attention to the TV as well, "What is Ren-san planning to say?"

"They didn't say much except that they would be letting Edogawa-san handle everything with the occasional comment from them."

"That makes sense," Yusuke said, "After all, Goro hasn't been known by the media for a long time, they probably wouldn't expect much of him except to sit still and be pretty."

"Dude." Ryuji lightly jabbed Yusuke in the side, "I can't believe you just said that."

"Hm?" Yusuke turned to look at him in confusion, "I merely spoke the truth."

"Yusuke is right, Ryuji." Goro smiled wanly.

The conversation halted when the TV channel moved on to the talk show scheduled.

Ann watched attentively; detective Edogawa looked old enough to be her father, with an aura imposing enough to pull the attention from who was most definitely Ren disguised as Goro (and had she not been used to seeing Ren parade around as Akira, she may have freaked out about how Ren's disguise skills worked like magic), even so, detective Edogawa was the type people would bypass in the street and not notice.

"I was a bit shocked when I discovered the thief was disguising themself as my kouhai- detective Akechi- but it wasn't the first time I had to deal with a phantom thief picking someone on the force for their disguise, so I ignored it in favor of checking for one such a disguise." Detective Edogawa's smile was gentle, "I must admit I was still relieved to find out that it was, indeed, a disguise."

Ren-as-Goro smiled bashfully, "It wouldn't be the first time a phantom thief picked my face as a disguise, unfortunately, and I don't think it would be the last."

The conversation then moved on to other questions, like if Goro was single ("I apologize, but I'm afraid that I am a taken man." Ren had smiled charmingly and the actual Goro had blushed, "Announce it to all and sundry, why don't you?" He'd huffed in mock annoyance), who the lucky person was ("The most stunning angel in this world," Ren had said, and Goro buried his face in his hands, grumbling in embarrassment), and various other topics. Goro looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him up.

As the show ended, Goro looked at Makoto dead in the eye and spoke in a deadpan, "End me, Mako."

"I can't do that, Goro, Ren-san won't let it slide. I don't know about you, but I don't think I want to be paraded around in, say, a suit."

Off to the side, Haru whipped her head around to stare at Makoto, "Mako-chan?" Haru's eyes widened, "In a suit?" She blushed.

"H-Haru?" Makoto blinked at Haru in shock, "Is something the matter?"

Ann eyed Makoto, "You know, I think I really want to see you in a suit. You'd look amazing."

Boss looked on at them in amusement as he switched the channel.

"Sojiro!" Futaba whined, "Why did you switch? Ren was getting to the good part!"

"I think the kid's been embarrassed enough." Boss jerked his head in Goro's direction.

"Aww!"

.

A couple of days later, Ren finally gathered them to go to Shido's Palace.

"Alright, this is it," Ren spoke in Akira's voice, while disguised as Akira (Ann figured it was easier to blend in with the group as Akira rather than Ren), and pulled out their phone, "Shido Masayoshi, the Diet Building is a ship."

The Thieves all looked taken aback with the last keyword; a ship? That was unexpected- they would have thought a castle or a mansion would have been more likely.

After the Nav fully transported them to the Metaverse, the group looked around.

"It doesn't look like anything changed," Haru murmured as she looked around, and she wasn't wrong; Ann couldn't really see anything had changed.

"True," Yusuke said, "But Morgana's appearance has changed."

The group looked at Morgana, who was in his bipedal form, and agreed with Yusuke- except for Ren, who said, "You know, it certainly puts a new meaning to the term 'cat burglar'." They seemed highly amused.

Morgana frowned, clearly not knowing how to react to what Ren just said, before turning to Goro, "Since Ren would be accompanying us, we should give them a code name too."

"Oooh, a code name," Ren purred, and Ann would be disturbed with how the expression Ren wore and the tone they used were out of character with how Akira typically acted if she hadn't seen Ren do the same thing with Akira's face and voice many times before, "What are you going to pick, _leader_?"

Goro frowned at them thoughtfully before a smirk stretched across his lips, "How about _Chat_ then? French for cat? I think it's quite suitable for you."

Ren smirked back at him, "You sure know how to cater to my tastes."

"That's all well and good," Ryuji interjected, "But why the heck is this place considered a ship? I don't see anything!"

"Right." Ren gestured to the direction the building was facing, "If you'd walk a bit into that direction, you would understand."

And indeed, they did.

As the Thieves were staring around them at the city sunken in a sea of red, Ren spoke up, "So, when we go inside the building, I'd like to lead the exploration."

Makoto turned away from the sight of a fallen building sinking into the sea, "That would be a good idea, you've been here before, so you're more familiar with the place than any of us."

"And we'll handle any combat," Goro said firmly.

Ren turned to frown at him, "What? Why? You don't you want me on the frontlines with you all?"

"You've been going through the Palace by yourself for some time now, yes? And since you'll also be the one leading the exploration, I'd prefer if you didn't have to deal with combat as well. Balancing jobs among the team members and all that. Besides, since you'll be in the lead, you'll be in the best position to ambush any Shadows we may encounter. Leading, navigating and ambushing? I don't want to put too much load on you."

"Fine. I'll ambush and retreat to let you handle the enemies. But on one condition."

Goro pressed his lips into a thin line, "And that is?"

"I'll be your direct back-up and support, Tantei-san," Ren said, raising a hand when Goro opened his mouth to protest, "I've watched your battles against Shadows, and while the rest switch out, you're always on the frontlines. I assume there is a reason for that? Because otherwise, Niijima-chan would have insisted you switch out already at least once."

"That's because Shadows would target him anyway whether he was on the frontlines or on back up," Morgana said, "We tried once before, but the Shadows kept their attention on Goro even then, so it's best to keep him on the frontlines where both the frontliners and supporters can keep an eye on him and cover for him when needed."

"I see." Ren hummed thoughtfully.

"Maybe having Ren-san as your direct back-up would be a good thing, leader," Yusuke said.

"I can definitely see merit in the idea," Makoto added, "Especially with Ren-san acting independently."

"Acting independently?" Ryuji asked, "How did you decide that so fast?"

"Well," Makoto tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Can you see Ren-san following Goro's commands?"

"No."

"See?"

"I'm glad you all agree to my condition." Ren smiled.

Goro sighed.

"Before we go in," Ren continued, "I have a question."

The Thieves focused their attention on them, wondering what else they might ask about.

"When you negotiate with Shadows, I've seen you ask for either money or items, but I've never seen you ask one of them to lend you their powers. Why is that?"

"That…" Morgana blinked in shock, "That's not just done? How would you even benefit from that?"

"I wonder." Futaba hummed, "Do recruited Shadows act like a Persona, you think? If so, could Goro maybe ask a Shadow to join him?"

"I don't think that's possible," Goro interjected, "I'm already almost going crazy with two different Personas in my mind, you want me to hold more? I think I actually _will_ go crazy if I did."

"Why are you asking, Ren-chan?" Haru wondered.

"That's right." Goro carefully observed Ren, "Why are you asking?"

Ren hummed as they avoided answering.

" _Ren-chan._ " Goro ground out, "Just how many Personas have you awakened? Mask-tearing and all?"

"Just the one," Ren promptly answered.

Goro frowned, clearly trying to figure out a way to rephrase the question to get a satisfactory answer from Ren, "Ren. How many Personas do you _hold_?"

Ren raised a finger to their temple and answered clearly, "Nine."

There was a collective spittake.

" _Nine?!_ "

"Yes. Currently, I hold nine Personas, my initial Persona included."

"'Currently'?" Goro blinked in shock, " _Currently?!_ Ren! How many more Personas can you hold?"

Ren closed their eyes and seemed to be pondering the question, "I can hold three more Personas."

"So you can hold _twelve_ Personas?!" Ann was awed.

Goro stared intensely at Ren, "You know what? I'm not surprised. At all. You've always switched out masks with disturbing ease; Personas wouldn't be much different for you. Out of all of us, you're probably the only one with a suitable mindset for it."

Ren stretched and hitched the bag they brought with them higher on their shoulder, "Now that the main details are out of the way, shall we? Our clothes immediately get switched once we enter."

The Thieves chorused an agreement and followed after Ren towards the Palace entrance.

.

Their clothes changed after they entered, just like Ren- or rather, just like Chat said. It was an opportunity to observe what Chat's Metaverse costume looked like.

A long, black coat, a waistcoat, a pair of loose pants, pointy-toed high heeled shoes, a pair of striking red gloves and a birdlike white mask with a black outline around the eyes.

Mona stared at the costume, "Woah!"

Crow looked like he would have pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration if his long-nosed red mask didn't stand in the way, "Chat, are you even _trying_?"

Chat smirked at him.

Panther shook her head and looked around at the rest of the team- they all seemed to share Mona's sentiment, except for Queen, who was staring at Chat with shock, as if she just realized something important.

"Queen?" Panther prompted, "Is something the matter?"

The rest turned to look at Queen and she shook her head, "Nothing. I simply agree with Crow- Chat, are you honestly going to be working with us looking like that?"

"Yes." Chat shrugged, "It's not like Crow doesn't know about it. Besides, I'm a member of this team now, what's a little personal tidbit shared between us?"

Panther had the feeling that this 'little personal tidbit' Chat mentioned was more important than they let on, the disbelieving look Crow wore only confirmed it for her.

"Alright, let's get going," Chat said as they turned to walk towards the stairs further in the hall, and the rest of the Thieves lined up behind them to follow them, frontliners first then the back-up, with Crow right behind Chat.

"The room we're heading towards is locked. Like I mentioned before, we're going to need five keys, of which I have three, which means we need two more. Those keys are actually letters of recommendation. There are five people on board who could give them, I met with three of them and got the letters. The other two remaining are a president of an IT company and someone called 'the Cleaner'." With that said, Chat broke into a sprint.

.

Having Chat with them (leading them, ambushing Shadows, and backing Crow up) was an _experience_.

The first time they ambushed a Shadow, the Thieves almost collectively had a heart attack on the spot.

Chat had inched around the corner, took a look at the Shadow that Mona had pointed out and gestured to Crow, "I'm going in for an ambush. You all ready?"

The group set to the frontlines readied their weapons as they prepared themselves to jump the Shadow with a preemptive strike.

"Alright, here I go." Chat slipped from their cover and almost flashed towards the Shadow, ending in a crouch behind it (Panther almost had screamed and launched herself after them), they then leapt up to the Shadow's shoulders, their red gloves looking like they glowed before they grabbed a hold of what was probably the Shadow's mask and _pulled_ , tearing off the mask and flipping backwards, somehow managing to do it despite the ceiling of the hallway, landing and leaping backwards. Thankfully, Crow was quick enough to leap forward to engage the Shadow, which looked stunned. It was enough to prompt the rest of the frontliners to rush in too.

"That…" Queen started, still looking shocked, "Was very reckless."

Chat looked at her, "I didn't have the manpower to ambush Shadows the way you did, and surprising the Shadow by getting the drop on them like that worked just fine for me." They then turned to look at the ones who engaged in combat with them, "What did you think?"

"It was rather surprising," Fox mused, "But the Shadows seemed to be more stunned by the ambush than I expected.

"True" Mona agreed, "Someone forcibly removing their masks seemed to disorient them."

"I take every advantage I can get my hands on." Chat shrugged.

"Yeah?" Skull stretched his arm, "Can we do that again?"

Chat grinned in response while Crow and Queen groaned in tandem. Panther would be lying if she said that she wasn't starting to feel excited about watching Chat pull another ambush and this time appreciating the sight.

.

Having Chat with them as back-up for Crow grew to be indispensable the further they went in; it wasn't the fact that Chat had a collection of Personas with them, it was because the Thieves noticed that Chat's presence acted like a morale booster for Crow.

"Do you think it's because Chat is wearing Aki-kun's face and using his voice?" Noir wondered.

"Speaking of which," Panther interjected, both she, Noir, Queen were on back up for the current leg of the Palace exploration, "Why didn't Chat ditch the disguise? I mean, wouldn't it be more comfortable to go through the Palace without the effort going towards maintaining the disguise hindering them?"

"You speak as if we're sure that Chat had showed us their real face," Queen murmured.

"Huh?" Noir cocked her head to the side, "What do you mean?"

Queen opened her mouth to answer but closed it when they heard Crow call for Noir to switch out with Skull.

"Hey, watcha talking about?"

"Chat's disguise," Panther answered.

"Oh, yeah, that." Skull frowned and scratched the back of his neck, "How do they keep up the voice imitation while fighting Shadows? It's not like they can't drop it around us."

"How sure are you?" Queen pseudo-repeated her earlier statement.

"What's this all of a sudden?" Skull looked at Panther who shrugged.

Queen sighed, "Listen, you told me how you met Chat for the first time, right?"

"Yeah, Crow called them to help us out."

"But they didn't know you. They only knew that Crow was the one who asked for them. So, what's to say that Amamiya Ren is their real name, and that the associated appearance and voice are their true face?"

Panther opened her mouth to respond before she closed it and thought about it, "You're right about that… but, Chat isn't…"

"I'm not saying that Chat isn't trustworthy. In fact, if they're who I think they are, then I don't have anything to worry about. All I'm saying is that they probably haven't shown us what they really look like due to personal reasons."

"And if they maintained the Ren disguise as a default in reality, why resort to the Akira disguise in the Metaverse?"

"It's probably because, and this is just conjecture, their real voice is close to Akira's voice, and so it can be easy to wave away any voice changes from slip ups as the physical exertion throwing their focus. Of course, there are more details, but this is not the time to talk about them in length."

"Right." Skull looked skeptical as he turned to see the rest of the team approach them after their encounter with Shadow's ended.

"Look." Queen shook her head, "Just forget about this for now and let's get back to exploring."

Panther doubted she, or Skull, could just forget about it.

.

It wasn't until after they obtained the final letter of recommendation that something completely unexpected happened.

In all honesty, Panther had almost forgotten about the Black Mask with all the chaos that happened at the casino, so seeing him in Shido's Palace was a shock.

He looked much older than the Thieves, almost like he was in his late thirties; with dark hair, average build and lightly armored dark clothes; the mask on his face was velvety black, split into two ends that went down his cheeks, with small spikes lining the top edge of the mask.

" _What,_ " Chat all but snarled as they stomped towards the Black Mask, " _Are you doing here?! You're not supposed to be here!_ "

Black Mask inclined his head, "I'm not supposed to be here, but does it matter?" The voice was somewhat familiar; Panther was sure she heard it somewhere before lately. Crow seemed to recognize the owner of the voice as he sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes going wide behind his red mask.

"You don't think I'll simply let you all do everything on your own."

Chat scoffed, "Like you've been a great help?"

Black Mask's shoulders slumped slightly before he squared them, "I must admit that I was only helpful at the station."

" _Which was all your goddamn fault in the first place!_ " Chat hissed.

"Detective Edogawa?" Crow whispered, and the rest of the Thieves reeled back in shock.

"What?!"

"How can it be?"

"How?!"

Edogawa raised a hand, quieting down the ruckus; Chat was looking at him unimpressed.

"I have made grave mistakes, and it's about time I started working on paying back for them. Starting by helping you all out in taking down Shido."

Chat stared at them intently, "I'm going to keep an eye on you."

"Hey, Chat," Noir called out, "What do you have against him?"

"More like, what do I _not_ have against him?"

Edogawa walked forward until he was closer to the Thieves and bowed down solemnly, "My apologies. I know that simply apologizing won't be satisfactory, but what, Chat, you called them? What Chat is referring to is the fact that I am the perpetrator behind the mental shutdown cases."

Noir let out a choked sound while Oracle stepped to the side until she was hidden behind Fox. Panther wasn't any less shocked.

"You what?" Crow choked out, clearly thrown for a loop, "The mental shutdown cases? How? Why?"

Edogawa closed his eyes, his shoulders slumping, "It's… a long story."

"We have time," Queen said, voice hard.

As the Thieves seemed to be in agreement in hearing what Edogawa had to say, he started talking while Chat maneuvered themself to stand between him and the Thieves, hand on their gun.

"It all started years ago, when I was much younger. I was a… horrible, selfish person. I… won't bore you now with the details, but I have done many things I still regret to this day. My first great regret was letting Akechi Yume go."

"Akechi Yume?" Crow whispered, a haunted look in his eyes.

"Yes." Edogawa nodded, "Your mother. I knew her back in high school, we were close friends. But I was too self-absorbed to keep in contact with her, particularly after she found out about her pregnancy. It wasn't until I had a wake-up call one day that I went back looking for her. Unfortunately, I was years too late- by the time I found her address, she was dead and you had been adopted."

"Is that…" Crow swallowed thickly, "Is that why you took me under your wing as a detective?"

"Yes. When you helped my team out on that case when you were fourteen, it felt like it was a sign. Your intelligence, quick wit and observation skills only helped smooth your entry to the force. I've kept you close to make sure you won't be hurt, and then Joker started his career and you got involved. I was relieved; working theft, particularly as a member of a phantom thief taskforce was certainly safer for you than working homicide with me."

"And how did you get involved with Shido?" Queen prompted.

"One day, I was accidentally pulled to the Metaverse. I still don't know how or why," Edogawa added when Queen opened her mouth to question him about it further, "I went back more than once to explore the Metaverse and awakened to my Persona. It took me a couple more months before I figured out what was going on in the Metaverse. It was the first instance of the rampaging incidents that clued me in."

Crow stiffened.

"I knew that the man Yume had relations with before she became pregnant and he left her was Shido Masayoshi and so I-"

"Wait!" Panther interrupted, "Crow's mother was involved in a relationship with Shido? That means-"

"That Shido is my biological father?" Crow spat out, "Yes, it does."

Chat sent a look over their shoulder at Crow and he exhaled before he pulled himself back under control, "Go on."

Edogawa complied, "I approached Shido with my ability and set myself up as his personal hitman to get closer to him before taking him down. I… made plenty of grave mistakes on the way. It wasn't until I was ordered to take you out that I realized that I needed to fix things. That was when I was confronted by Chat in Niijima's Palace."

"Which led us to successfully fake Crow's death while also fabricating the disguise lie," Chat continued, "And he's been tasked with keeping an eye out on how things are going on Shido's side of the equation."

"We'll need to talk in more detail after we leave," Crow stated before he gestured to the way leading out of the room, "But first, we need to go open the door."

.

It was a subdued and somber group that left the engine room, silent outside of handling Shadows.

The door they unlocked with the recommendation letters did lead them closer to where the Treasure would show up after they'd send the calling card, and so Crow called it a day and everyone returned to the real world with the agreement to meet up again sometime later to discuss the calling card.

They didn't meet up again until a few days later in Leblanc. Edogawa wasn't present.

"His presence isn't required," Ren said when Ann brought it up, "It's better if he keeps up his routine. His part comes later, much later. Now, how are you all planning to send the calling card?" Ren turned their question to Goro, who shared a mischievous look with Futaba.

"You're going to love this." Futaba snickered as she turned her laptop around to face the rest of the team, "Sending in calling cards like usual wouldn't work due to Shido's influence- but this? This, he won't be able to hide."

As the Thieves observed what was on the laptop's screen, they grinned in excitement.

"Seriously?" Ren asked, incredulous, before putting a hand to their chest, "This… this is completely unexpected." They turned to look at Goro, as if questioning his sanity, Goro merely grinned back. Ren's eyes widened, "Oh my god, you really are planning to _broadcast_ you calling card!" They grinned and jumped at Goro, pulling him by the lapels of his jacket to mash their lips against his in a messy kiss before letting him go and pulling out their phone, "This is going to be _marvelous_!" They crowed before they jogged out of the café.

The Thieves turned to look at a flushed Goro who cleared his throat, "Never mind that, they were definitely more excited about the style of the calling card than I expected. Anyway, shall we?"

"Without Ren?" Ann tilted their head to the side in confusion.

"Yes, without Ren." Goro nodded, "We can't have Ren be seen in their Metaverse outfit by the public, their outfit could be easily distinguished."

"So, they're wearing a costume that resembles one that is publicly known?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes. Don't worry about them, they probably have their own schemes to execute."

Futaba smirked, "Well, then… Let's get this show started."

.

The calling card was exhilarating, in Ann's honest opinion. While the idea of showing their faces in public as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts used to make her nervous, doing it for a calling card felt different. She wished she was in the crowd to see the people's reactions. Especially with Goro showing his face while wearing his helmet from his Loki Metaverse costume.

But what came with the calling card was completely unexpected.

Ann stared up at the sky in wonder; multiple calling cards were lit in the sky, not their calling cards, but ones belonging to different phantom thieves.

Goro was pointing out calling cards and telling them to which phantom thief each of them belonged. Ann heard that the calling cards were shown in the sky right when their calling card was playing. Everywhere in Japan.

"A declaration," Goro had murmured, "They're declaring whose side they're on- ours."

It was clear as day, especially when the cards stayed up all through the night.

And through Shido's speech in response to the Phantom Thieves' calling card, the screens were hijacked to show the same calling cards from the sky with messages on them.

' _Our kouhais are just so precious!'_

' _Dear kouhais,_

 _Your senpais are here to lend a hand~'_

' _THEY DARE DISBAND OUR TASKFORCES! NO ONE MESSES WITH OUR TASKFORCES!'_

' _You haven't forgotten about us, hm? Our fellow thieves have made their stand and we stand behind them.'_

The crowds were going wild everywhere in reaction to the messages. Especially the one Goro pointed out as Joker's trademark- black with white writing and a white mask on the top that looked eerily like Chat's mask- that simply said _'You won't be getting any sleep tonight'_ with a bold red kiss mark in the corner.

(Ann suddenly realized how much she was missing out on with not looking for more information about Joker and his heists; if all his heist notes were like this, then god knew what type of chases he led Goro on.)

Ann put her hand on her heart, touched, "Oh, wow. This is… impressive. I never expected they'd do something like this."

Goro chuckled, "Honestly? I was expecting them to do something like this a lot sooner. But perhaps they were working in hiding for long if they had all of this prepared, and probably waiting for us to be ready while they're at it. It certainly explains why Ren had been very busy lately."

The agitated masses then started chanting, "Phantom Thieves! Phantom Thieves! Phantom Thieves!"

Goro hid a smirk, "Well, if this is the reaction they've been hoping for, then they definitely got it."

Haru smiled, "It's time to take Shido down."

"Yes," Makoto agreed, "Let's."

With that, the Thieves turned around and headed to the Diet Building, completely unnoticed in the middle of the raging crowds.

.

Ren was waiting for them in front of the Diet Building with their phone out and ready and with an unholy look in their eyes that sent shivers of excitement and anticipation trailing up the Thieves' spines.

That look turned into a shark-like grin the moment the team shifted into the Palace, one that Crow returned, and Panther felt a smaller one stretch her own lips.

And then the Thieves shot off into the Palace to steal the heart of Shido Masayoshi.

(The confrontation was grueling, and Shido's Shadow refused to go down easily, each and every time after they'd strike him down, he'd rise again, but the Thieves refused to let it deter them.

It was now or never- there was no going back.)

.

The Thieves went on with their lives after escaping Shido's Palace with an underlying edge. They were too high-strung as they waited the change of heart and could only wind down when they were all gathered in Leblanc. No one outside their group noted it as odd due to the chaos being stirred up on daily basis by the rest of the phantom thief community. There was not a day that passed without either a calling card making the rounds or a phantom thief showing up in person and riling the public into a frenzy.

Leblanc felt like an oasis in the middle of it all, where the Phantom Thieves (sans their latest member who had yet to show up since Shido's Palace, not that the Thieves were worried; Ren was probably around but in disguise and not telling them just for the fun of it) were relaxing. Akira and Goro were sitting next to each in one of the booths with Akira reading a book and Goro napping on his shoulder. In the seat facing them were Makoto and Haru, quietly conversing together as if they were in their own little world. On one of the stools sat Yusuke, sketchbook in hand and completely focused on sketching Akira and Goro. Futaba was sitting in the booth farthest from the door with Morgana in her lap as the two watched something on her laptop. Ryuji was sitting next to Ann, checking something out on his phone. Ann herself was texting Shiho.

Ann smiled to herself; she would have never expected to find herself in such a situation at the start of the year, but she wouldn't give it up for the world.

.

The day Shido confessed his crimes was a sight to behold; protesters were gathered around, denouncing Shido's win in the elections, and various phantom thieves were present in person just to boo Shido.

And then Shido confessed his crimes. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

Ann honestly wanted to cry, but she saved her tears until after she was in Leblanc and everyone was gathered for a celebration party. And she wasn't the only one who cried.

Even Goro was shaking, head bowed and shoulders hunched with his hands fisted in the fabric of his pants; Akira was sitting next to him and had him wrapped in an embrace.

(Ann didn't even know what Akira, who was the only one in the room not in the know about them being the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, thought about why they were all shaken about this, but she didn't care- it was high time Akira knew about their identities as Phantom Thieves, or at least Goro's.)

"What's going to happen to him next?" Yusuke wondered, "Will he be put on trial?"

Sae side-eyed Akira before she returned her attention to the others, "Yes. With the one responsible for the mental shutdowns turning himself in and all the evidence we received from an anonymous source, we could prosecute him. By the way, Kurusu-kun?"

"Niijima-san?" Akira tilted his head in Sae's direction.

"About your probation."

Immediately, the group quieted down, the reminder of Akira's year in Tokyo coming to an end sobered them up.

"We managed to get in contact with the witness who testified against you," Sae continued and Akira's eyes widened.

"With Shido willing to confess to all his crimes and the eye witness willing to testify truthfully, we can get your assault charge lifted."

Goro snapped his head up, "Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that the one behind Akira's false assault charge was Shido?!"

"Yes." Sae nodded.

Ann gaped, and the rest of the Thieves weren't any less shocked.

Goro snorted, "Talk about a weird twist of fate."

Sae's phone pinged with a message; she checked it and excused herself, "I'll keep in touch, Kurusu-kun."

"Alright."

"Well…" Ann trailed off, "That's good news, right? You'd be free then, Akira! Let's celebrate that too!"

.

The rest of the year continued on a subdued note with Akira's imminent leave, but with Shido's trial taking a very long time, the Thieves got to spend a couple more months with Akira before he left. They dropped all their Phantom Thief activities to make time for the friend they'd been accidentally neglecting for the aforementioned Phantom Thief activities. Goro himself almost never left Akira's side, and work miraculously didn't call him away.

But as it was, all good things came to an end, and Akira's stay in Tokyo reached its own end with his name being cleared.

"I'll visit," He said, "You should visit too; my family would love to meet you."

Ryuji snickered as he elbowed Goro in the side, "Meeting the parents, eh?"

Goro stared in the distance, his skin growing considerably paler, "I shudder to think what would happen in such a meeting."

Akira chuckled as he hauled his last luggage bag into the trunk of the car he'd be leaving in. The car reminded Ann with Ren's; but that was probably due to the Thieves not seeing or hearing anything from them since Shido's confession when Ren sent them a message saying simply 'You've done a great job.'

(After much thought, Ann was sure that Ren was a phantom thief, it certainly explained a lot of things about them and the way Goro acted in regards to them.)

Akira turned back to look at them from where he was standing next to the driver's door, "I'm going to miss you all. It was a lot of fun spending time with you."

Goro walked closer to Akira and Akira reached to tug him close, pressing a kiss to his cheek, "You know who to call if you need help, okay?"

Goro huffed as he stepped back and Akira opened the driver's door, "Don't worry," Goro said, "I still have some of the lockpicks you gave me- they're quite durable."

Ann blinked and stared at Goro in confusion, lockpicks?

Akira chuckled and pulled the glasses off his face, tucking them into his shirt, his mouth stretching into a familiar smirk, and the Thieves stood straighter, staring at him in shock while Goro shook his head with a wry smile.

Right at that moment, all the screens around them showing news cut into a vaguely familiar black calling card with an even more familiar mask; then the card faded to show a figure they all recognized.

"Chat…?" Ann trailed off in confusion. No, not Chat.

The figure threw their arms out while calling, "Good afternoon, Tokyo! Long time no see!"

Goro made an exasperated sound at the back of his throat, pulling the attention of the Thieves for the screen towards him. They all turned just in time to see Akira press a black card into Goro's jacket and turn back towards the car. As he climbed in and closed the door behind him, he turned to blow them all a kiss, "Like I said," He spoke, his voice easily matching the figure speaking on screen, "Don't hesitate to call me if you need help, Tantei-san." Akira purred, voice deep as he turned the car on and drove off.

Silence.

Makoto sighed, "Out of everything, I hadn't expected this."

Ann was stunned, "Wait! What just happened?!"

.

End

'Wait! What just happened?!' a.k.a this fic in a nutshell.

Not featured in-fic: Ren's infiltration of Madarame's shack; the shuake dates to get Kaneshiro's name from Goro; shuake getting together; shuake Hawaii date; Arsene's awakening; Ren confronting Edogawa; Joker's heists mentioned in the fic; Ren, Edogawa and Sae getting Goro out of the interrogation room; Ren's and Goro's chat logs; just how much Futaba knows about Akira's phantom thief secret; Futaba contacting Akira before getting in contact with the PT; whose name was on the death certificate; the Goro-Edogawa Talk post confrontation in Shido's Palace; where the heck is Morgana staying (the author personally still doesn't know the answer to this to be honest), Goro's Leblanc visits, Joker-Goro interactions.

for how Ren looks like: think Kudo Yukiko from Detective Conan but with more curls.


End file.
